The Department for Transport (DfT) is following an outdated, ‘Thatcherite’ model of economic growth, according to the Government’s former sustainable development adviser.
Sir Jonathon Porritt, who last week left his post as chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, criticised the DfT, among other governmental departments, saying it acted regardless of the social and environmental consequences.
‘[The Government’s] model is hostile to sustainable development where you are not discounting factors about people’s wellbeing and the state of the environment,’ he told the BBC.
Sir Jonathon added that ministers should feel an abiding shame on issues such as fuel policy.
A DfT spokesman said: ‘We know that decarbonising the transport sector has to be at the front and centre of efforts to meet our carbon-reduction obligations.
‘Which is why we recently launched our Carbon Reduction Strategy, which sets out a long-term vision for a fundamentally-different transport system, where carbon reduction is a central consideration in the way we do business.’
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