Building a greener future – practical action for low carbon mobility

The transportation sector remains the largest contributor to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 30% of total emissions in 2024. Domestic transport far outpaces other sectors and passenger cars continue to be the biggest source of pollution. Despite widespread coverage and growing public awareness, overall transport emissions have not fallen significantly, reflecting persistent demand, population growth, and other factors. Meaningful progress is key, together with a cultural shift in travel habits, and I won’t cover old ground on this, but what are we doing about it, and how can we help our clients on their path to zero carbon? 

With every client we work with, we aim to promote better active travel choices, whilst also helping to reduce their impact through carbon emissions.  

When developers submit planning applications, they are increasingly expected to demonstrate how their proposals support walking, wheeling and cycling. 

Active Travel England (ATE) published Standing Advice Notes on Active Travel and Sustainable Development (June 2024) to guide local authorities and applicants to evaluate whether routes are safe, accessible, and attractive. Key elements include an evidence-based assessment of active travel routes in the area, an integration of toolkits based upon government guidance, such as the Walking Route Audit Tool (WRAT), together with a focus on inclusivity. WRAT is a structured audit tool we use for projects, helping to assess the quality of existing walking routes and other items such as directness, safety, security or quality of environment, and we are then able to identify gaps in provision and proposed improvements that make walking a more viable choice.  

In regard to cycling, we use the Cycling Level of Service (CLoS) tool which is an assessment framework used to evaluate how well a street, junction, or cycling route serves people on bikes (assessing coherence, attractiveness, safety etc.) and is widely used in the UK - originally developed by Transport for London and later incorporated into national guidance such as LTN 1/20. The tool provides a structured, objective scoring system to help us understand whether cycling infrastructure is safe, comfortable, coherent, and attractive for our clients.  

Sustainable transport is no longer optional - it’s fundamental. This is helping cities across the UK move towards a future where mobility is greener, healthier, and more inclusive.  

As a matter of fact, our active travel focus is not just limited to routes and surrounding areas but buildings and developments themselves.  

We support our clients in enhancing the active travel performance of buildings and developments. Our work focuses on assessing how well a site supports sustainable mobility, looking at everything from infrastructure quality and user experience to connectivity, accessibility, and opportunities for improvement. Through the assessment process, we identify strengths, highlight gaps, and provide clear, evidence‑based recommendations that help clients create environments which genuinely encourage walking, cycling, and other low‑carbon travel choices.

Our approach considers the wider context of each site, including surrounding transport networks, local infrastructure, and the overall mobility potential of the location. This allows us to deliver a comprehensive understanding of how effectively a building or development supports healthy, sustainable travel behaviours and how this can be strengthened.

With our support, clients can then choose to pursue recognised accreditations such as ActiveScore or ModeScore, and we can guide them through that process as well. 

In a landscape where transport emissions remain stubbornly high, meaningful progress depends on practical action as much as policy. By helping clients understand, assess and improve the active travel performance of their routes, buildings and wider developments, we’re enabling change where it matters most - on the ground. Using evidence‑based tools, structured assessments and strategic recommendations this helps to give organisations and clients the clarity and confidence to create places that genuinely support low‑carbon movement. And as they strengthen their commitment to sustainable mobility, we can also support them in pursuing recognised sustainable transport accreditations, ensuring their achievements are measured, validated and celebrated.