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Transport Action Network v. Secretary of State for Transport and Highway England Company (on Roads Investment Strategy) - application

Transport Action Network v. Secretary of State for Transport and Highway England Company (on Roads Investment Strategy) - Other

judgment

Transport Action Network v. Secretary of State for Transport and Highway England Company (on Roads Investment Strategy) - judgment

Filing Year For Action

On June 1, 2020, Transport Action Network (TAN) filed a suit in the High Court of Justice challenging the legality of the UK government's Second Roads Investment Strategy, covering the years 2020-2025, on climate and air pollution grounds. TAN, an environmental advocacy NGO, named the Secretary of State for Transport as the defendant and Highways England Company, appointed by the Secretary to implement the strategy, as an interested party. TAN listed four grounds for its suit: 1) the Secretary failed to take into account the impact of the roads strategy on achieving climate objectives, in violation of the Infrastructure Act of 2015 and the objectives of the Paris Agreement; 2) the Secretary unlawfully failed to establish a metric for measuring GHG emissions; 3) the Secretary unlawfully failed to ensure levels of air pollutants do not exceed limits set in air quality regulations; and 4) the Secretary unlawfully failed to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the roads strategy. 

On July 21, 2020, the High Court admitted the case on the first ground - that the Secretary unlawfully failed to take into account climate impacts. On October 19, 2020, TAN renewed its application for the court to admit the air pollution claims, and a hearing was held on the issue on October 29, 2020. 

On July 26, 2021, the High Court dismissed the case. The Court found that the Secretary of State for Transport, in approving the strategy, had given adequate regard to UK Policy on Climate Change. The Court upheld the Department of Transport's determination that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the RIS were de minimis and not obviously material to the decision-making process. In the course of the judgment the Court also observed that "there is nothing in the IA 2015 [Infrastructure Act 2015] which remotely resembles environmental decision-making."

Transport Action Network v. Secretary of State for Transport and Highway England Company (on Roads Investment Strategy)

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Social protection systems consist of policies that help people manage social risks in order to prevent poverty and maintain decent incomes and living standards

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Transport Action Network v. Secretary of State for Transport and Highway England Company (on Roads Investment Strategy) - Other

Policy instrument

Risk

Just transition

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance