The Isle of Man Transport Strategy: A vision without a Roadmap
Local news outlets have certainly focussed on the sustainability aspects of the new Transport Strategy. The 3FM headline reads “Greener travel main focus for government’s new transport plan” and IOM Today’s article is accompanied with a picture of an electric bus. But how much does the Strategy tell us about the road ahead for transport decarbonisation in the Isle of Man?
TL:DR – the Strategy a high-level document which makes encouraging promises around sustainability and emissions reductions. However, it largely reaffirms past commitments and leaves a critical gap between ambition and the detailed, time-bound plan needed for successful delivery and, importantly, to enable businesses to effectively prepare for change.
Familiar commitments
The majority of sustainability commitments within the new Strategy closely resemble commitments made in past documents, such as the 2019 Moving Towards Low Emission Travel: A Policy for Surface Transport & Electric Vehicles, the 2020 Isle of Man Government Action Plan for Achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2050 and the Climate Change Plan 2022-2027. While this consistency reassures us that our destination hasn’t changed, it is starting to feel a little like we’re stuck on a roundabout and raises questions about the pace of progress. Actions such as fleet decarbonisation and supporting EV charging infrastructure have now appeared in at least four documents over six years. Reaffirmed commitments are not accompanied by progress updates so it’s difficult to comment on success so far.
Moving from exploration to implementation
The Strategy states that a “range of measures will be explored to encourage a shift away from car use”. The acknowledgment that car use needs to be reduced is welcomed but it is important to note that substantial exploration has already been undertaken. The Transport Decarbonisation Scenarios (2024) set out a wide range of evidence-based emissions reduction measures for the Island’s transport sector.
Of course, technology is moving rapidly, and it is prudent to monitor on-going developments and stay open and agile to changing course and taking advantage of them. However, failure to act promptly on expert advice risks curating an expensive record of what could have been done. For this strategy to be effective, it must swiftly transition from exploring to implementation and it must make best use of the evidence base already available.
Taxation: A Powerful Tool Requiring Careful Handling
The Strategy promises to ‘Harmonise taxes for hybrid, zero-emission and fossil-fuel vehicles.’ Taxation is a powerful policy lever but what will this mean for EV users? Harmonisation could mean giving up one of the few existing incentives to encourage EV uptake.
Mileage-based road pricing is one of the most impactful measures cited in the Scenarios document – even so, removing incentives for uptake before EV ownership has become the norm could put the brakes on progress. More detail is needed to properly understand the potential impact of this commitment.
Challenging timeframes
The Strategy reaffirms the commitment to reduce transport emissions by 15% by 2027, as required by the Climate Change Plan. However, with 2025 well underway, this goal appears increasingly challenging.
However, there is hope – the Transport Decarbonisation Scenarios (Executive Summary) suggests that a reduction of 14.6% achievable through a blended package of measures, including improved active travel, demand management, and fiscal changes – some of which, such as road space reallocation and travel plans, are mentioned in the Strategy. However, many of these measures require extensive public consultation and legislative change – processes that are inherently time-consuming. The clock is ticking, and the absence of a clear implementation timeline in this strategy is its most significant weakness.
A change which could be delivered without the same need for public consultation and legislation would be decarbonisation of the government fleet (e.g. via EVs or introducing HVO to the Island). Such a change could deliver a reduction of about 5%*. Introducing HVO to the Island could be a catalyst for wider change, if it were made available to businesses and the public.
Conclusion: Time to shift up a gear
An overarching Strategy can be useful to set direction and the ongoing commitment to emissions reduction is reassuring. However, the Island is well past the point of needing vision statements. What is needed now is decisive action.
The 20mph road safety changes have demonstrated that the current Minister has the tenacity and resilience to promote evidence-based changes, even when they are contentious. This determination will serve her well on the journey ahead.
To get on track for emissions reductions targets, the IOM Government will need to shift up a gear (or several) to quickly, effectively and fairly implement the ‘robust policies’ that the Strategy acknowledges are needed.
And finally, I would apologise for all the puns, but I knew exactly what I was doing 🙂
* The Summary Analysis Report 2023-2024 states that the total transport emissions of all public bodies is 9,316.54 tCO2e – note that this is all public bodies and includes local authorities, statutory boards etc. not just central government. The national emissions inventory data on the netzero.im website states that total transport sector emissions for 2023 were 158,305 tCO2e. So, total decarbonisation of all public body vehicles would amount to 5.9% reduction for the overall transport sector.