Day: April 26, 2018

The UK is stepping up its support to fight global environmental challenges, with a greater focus on protecting the world’s oceans and tackling the illegal wildlife trade, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove have announced today (Thursday 26th April).

At the Global Environment Facility conference in Stockholm, the UK joined 29 other international donors to recommit for a further four years to help developing countries tackle global environmental degradation.

Following pressure from the UK, this year’s Global Environment Facility replenishment will result in more funding to protect the marine environment, including from plastic waste pollution, and to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.

With this seventh round of support, the GEF is planning to protect around 600 million hectares of land and marine habitats – an area equivalent to 24 times the size of the UK – and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1600 million metric tonnes – the equivalent of an average car driving 4 million miles.

The UK’s commitment of up to £250 million over the next four years is an increase on the last pledge of £210 million from 2014-2018, and maintains the UK’s leadership on tackling environmental challenges that threaten global stability and security. Twenty per cent of the UK’s support is also conditional on GEF making continual improvements to achieve maximum impact.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

The world’s poorest communities are often the worst affected by environmental change. Extreme climates cause devastating drought and hunger, while deforestation and pollution destroy people’s livelihoods and health.

The UK’s long-running partnership with the Global Environment Facility has already achieved great change – cutting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting land – and now, we’re working with our international partners to do more so that together we can clean our oceans of plastic waste and fight the illegal wildlife trade.

This will help developing nations, but, as we are all affected by the environment, it is a win for us in the UK too.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

Environmental challenges do not respect borders. It is only through co-ordinated international action that we can clean up our oceans and protect wildlife. Our funding to the Global Environment Facility makes a vital difference.

The 25 Year Environment Plan demonstrates a commitment to global leadership. It makes clear our priorities of ending the illegal trade in wildlife and reducing plastic waste. These efforts will prevent damage to our seas and the wider natural environment.

Notes to editors

• The UK Government – through the Department for International Development (DFID) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) – has pledged £250 million to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for its seventh replenishment.
• The UK’s commitment of up to £250m over 2018-2022 is an increase on the last pledge of £210m for the 2014-2018 replenishment, and maintains the UK’s leadership on tackling global environmental challenges and our position as the fourth largest contributor to the fund.
• To incentivise GEF to achieve the targets, we are making 20% of our overall replenishment funding contingent on GEF’s continual improvement and achieving maximum impact.
• The UK has sought and successfully achieved a substantial increase in GEF funding for a range of priority topics, including:
  • an increase for the Global Wildlife Programme tackling the illegal wildlife trade;
  • increases for managing chemicals and waste – including plastic;
  • an increase for international waters in recognition of pressures on the marine environment.
• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was set up in 1991, and supports developing countries to tackle major environmental challenges including wildlife loss, land degradation, deforestation, chemical pollution, marine and freshwater degradation, and climate change.
• Since its inception in 1991 the Global Environment Fund has successfully protected 860 million hectares of land – an area larger than Brazil – and contributed to 2.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions through 760 climate change protection projects.

In a pioneering move, the government company responsible for the country’s motorways and major A roads has joined forces with the Freight Transport Association (FTA) to offer bespoke safety training for drivers who travel on smart motorways.

Aimed at commercial and haulage drivers, the course has been designed to provide practical, relevant training.

The eight hour, single day course covers the past, present and future of smart motorways, the different signals on the network, driver behaviour and the role of traffic officers.

A key aspect of the course is that it now integrates into the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC), the standard qualification for which all professional bus, coach and lorry drivers must complete 35 hours of training every five years.

Senior Partnership Manager at Highways England, Wayne Carey said:

Hauliers are among the most frequent users of smart motorways so we want to ensure we are providing as much support as we can to ensure those journeys are as safe as possible.

Smart motorways reduce congestion, improve journey time reliability and add much needed capacity to some of the most congested sections of motorway and we are delighted with the take up to date of this course.

We urge any haulier who wants to sharpen up their skills to sign up.

Pertemps, one of the leading training providers has agreed to offer the training, and Müller is one of the first organisations to take it on.

Jen Cowie, Logistic Support and Development Manager at Müller said:

It’s essential that our drivers are fully equipped to deal with their surroundings. We are delighted to be working with Highways England on this training, from concept to delivery, and we continue to work together closely, which not only benefits the business, but the overall road network.

National Trainer Manager at Pertemps Driver Training, Andy Smart said:

It is clear to us that smart motorways are the future in the UK and their use has undoubtedly reduced congestion and improved safety on some of the busiest roads.

As an employer of over 7000 drivers nationwide we are actively working with and supporting Highways England to promote the benefits of smart motorways within the haulage industry.

Malcolm Bingham, Head of Road Network Management Policy at the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said:

FTA is conscious that hauliers would appreciate more advice about driving on smart motorways. That is why FTA has worked in partnership with Highways England to produce the training module which is now approved for use on the Driver CPC course programme.

This is the right way forward – providing drivers with true guidance on how to use the network and not adding confusion about which parts of the road they can use and when. That has been borne out by driver feedback on the pilot courses we have run.

It also demonstrates the need to respect the Red X signs set up when there is a problem on the network and provides assurance that these lanes are vital tool in keeping drivers safe in emergency situations.

Any company which wishes to enrol their drivers on the training should email: SPTC_Driver_Education_Course@highwaysengland.co.uk

Highways England’s call to hauliers comes alongside a number of other initiatives related to commercial vehicle safety launched at this year’s Commercial Vehicle Show.

One of these is the commercial vehicle incident prevention programme, which focuses on safer people and aims to reduce the number of commercial vehicle related incidents.

As part of this comes the use of virtual reality to reduce the risk of commercial vehicle drivers being involved in incidents as they travel up and down the country.

Other examples include:

• a joint initiative with police using HGV cabs to target dangerously driven vehicles (one of the cabs with police representatives will be at the Show);
• the installation of sophisticated tyre/vehicle measurement (tyre pressure, tyre tread depth, vehicle weight, axles heat) technology at key locations;
• initiatives with the Health & Safety Executive and the police to improve load security; and interventions to reduce diesel spillages which damage the carriageway and cause long delays.
• development of truck stop apps in Polish and Romanian (they can also be seen at the Commercial Vehicle Show).

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.