Report establishes carbon baseline for England’s roads

A report from the Carbon Leadership Programme aims to provide the first ever national baseline of carbon emissions from the maintenance and construction of local roads in England.

It is designed to help local highway authorities save money and increase efficiency by measuring and identifying how to reduce carbon emissions.

Carbon footprint of local roads

Launched in June 2025, the Carbon Leadership Programme is supported by the Department for Transport and delivered by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (Adept) in partnership with Proving Services.

The report sets out a range of early findings, offering for the first time a national picture of both the carbon footprint of local roads and the extent to which authorities are adopting best practice to reduce it. It provides a clear and consistent starting point from which authorities can understand their current position, benchmark progress over time and identify the most impactful opportunities to reduce emissions across their networks.

“What is particularly encouraging is the clear link between operational efficiency and carbon performance, which shows that reducing emissions and running an efficient highways service are complementary goals”

 To date, around 60 of England’s 153 local highway authorities have engaged with the programme, with 21 having completed the full assessments, contributing to this first national baseline.

This work directly supports the expectations set out in the newly published Local Transport Plan guidance, which places increased emphasis on the need for authorities to measure, manage and reduce carbon emissions across the lifecycle of transport infrastructure.