Reducing emissions from road transport, in line with the carbon budgets set by the Committee on Climate Change, could reduce healthcare spending by £96m by 2030, according to a new report.
The report, commissioned by WWF-UK and produced by Cambridge Econometrics, found that meeting the first four carbon budgets would also increase UK GDP by 1.1% in net terms and create 190,000 new jobs.
It said that improving air quality by reducing emissions from road transport alone would cut healthcare expenditure by £96m to £288m annually by 2030. Meeting the budgets would also increase government revenues by £5.7bn a year through a stronger economy.
The report also said that households would be £565 a year better off as higher wages and employment levels would be greater that the cost of funding low-carbon infrastructure.
Nick Molho, head of climate and energy policy at WWF-UK, said: ‘Economists and business leaders have long stressed that minimising the impacts of climate change on our infrastructure is crucial to guaranteeing the future health of our economy. But this report goes a step further and shows that building a low-carbon economy would, in itself, produce net economic benefits for the UK.”
‘Meeting our carbon budgets and doing so in a way that maximises economic benefits for the UK and provides the necessary support to vulnerable parts of society should be a priority for the next Government.’
