Climate change blog - Highways decarbonisation: lessons from the ADEPT Autumn Conference
In this month's blog, David Dale, Policy Officer for ADEPT, reflects on the highways decarbonisation workshop at the recent ADEPT Autumn Conference and the learning that emerged from the session.
The ADEPT Autumn Conference 2025 took place on 20–21 November and explored the theme Devolution and local government reform – the biggest shake-up the sector has seen for 50 years?
Over 210 delegates attended from local authorities across England, corporate partners, professional bodies and government departments. Alongside a diverse programme of plenary sessions and a keynote address from Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, delegates took part in six workshops covering key issues for place leadership.
Setting the scene
One of the most popular sessions focused on highways decarbonisation, specifically ‘The 2030 challenge: what do years of local government reorganisation (LGR) upheaval mean for our highways carbon reduction commitments?’ Sponsored by corporate partner Multevo, a leading low-carbon highways maintenance contractor, the workshop was chaired by Neil Gibson, with panellists Karen Farquharson, Josh Sweeney and Matt Townsend.
The road network remains one of the UK’s largest public assets, yet highway maintenance is also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. With central and local government, as well as the highways supply chain, all working towards ambitious carbon reduction targets, the workshop examined four central questions.
- What progress has been made to date?
- What are the main opportunities and challenges?
- How might ongoing LGR affect future progress?
- And how can we maintain momentum in a volatile political landscape?
Speaker insights
Neil Gibson, Past President of ADEPT and Chair of the Live Labs 2 Commissioning Board, opened the discussion with reflections on the progress of Live Labs 2, the £30m, 3-year, UK-wide Department for Transport-funded programme developing new approaches to local highways decarbonisation.
Now in its third year, the programme brings together seven local authority-led projects across four themes: green carbon laboratories, corridors and places, centres of excellence and a future lighting testbed. Neil emphasised the need to accelerate and scale up change through an extended learning and dissemination phase. He also referenced a recent YouGov survey showing that while 60% of the public support net zero, few believe government action is sufficient to meet the 2050 target.
Karen Farquharson, Director at Proving Services, ADEPT’s partner in the Future Highways Research Group (FHRG) and the Carbon Leadership Programme (CLP), outlined how the CLP is measuring the carbon footprint of local highway authorities and supporting best practice across the sector. Funded by the DfT, the initiative provides vital evidence to inform policy and resource allocation and offers authorities a consistent carbon measurement framework for annual assessment. Karen’s key message was clear; carbon reduction is achieved through running an effective and efficient highways maintenance service.
Josh Sweeney, Director of Marketing and Growth at Multevo, discussed how the company’s partnerships with local authorities are driving low-carbon innovation across materials, methodologies and equipment. He highlighted work with Lancashire County Council, including a new pothole repair machine that recycles materials on site, this reduces waste, costs and the need for new resources.
Matt Townsend, Director of Highways and Transportation at Lancashire County Council, stressed the importance of making the case for carbon reduction through cost and resilience benefits. As local political dynamics shift, language matters and framing carbon action in terms of financial efficiency and long-term value is key to winning support. He encouraged local authorities to focus on small, cumulative improvements that become part of business as usual. By improving the quality of repairs and prioritising accountability and innovation, local authorities can minimise repeat visits and therefore reduce costs and disruption.
Lessons and opportunities
Group discussions within the workshop identified several recurring themes. Firstly, the need for a joined-up framework and clear signals from national government. If decarbonisation is a cross-government priority, then it, via MHCLG, needs to set an outcomes framework for local authorities that includes key performance indicators around transport decarbonisation capitalising on the premise of “what gets measured gets done”.
There was broad agreement that local authorities can go further through proactive procurement. By setting baselines and making carbon reduction a contractual performance metric, they can strengthen accountability and incentivise innovation. Shared risk and reward mechanisms, e.g. sharing savings achieved through reduced fuel use could also be used more widely.
Participants noted that innovation need not wait for the next procurement cycle. Authorities should explore opportunities for improvement within existing contracts, though this can be constrained by the need for legal or financial approvals. Collaborative work with professional associations to develop standardised contract clauses could make approval processes quicker and easier.
Political understanding and support were also identified as critical. Gaining and maintaining councillor buy-in takes time and persistence, particularly when administrations change or new members are unfamiliar with the issues. Outcomes and benefits must be expressed in ways that align with local political priorities, reinforcing Karen Farquharson’s key point that carbon reduction is a by-product of well-managed, efficient highway services.
Moving forward
While devolution and local government reorganisation will continue to dominate attention in the coming months, many authorities have already navigated this terrain successfully. For those preparing for change, there are valuable opportunities to build leaner, more efficient systems and to learn from peers. Local authorities involved in the Live Labs 2 Programme and the Carbon Leadership Programme, as well as those trialling new procurement models or working with new administrations, are providing practical examples of what works.
The workshop made clear that progress on highways decarbonisation depends as much on collaboration and leadership as it does on technology or funding.
By aligning political priorities with practical delivery, the sector can continue to make measurable progress towards a resilient, low-carbon future.
Further information
Author
- David Dale, ADEPT Policy Officer
