A new tunnel linking Kent and Essex will create five million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), figures suggest.
Estimates say building the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), a flagship project in the UK’s roads programme, will emit 2 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas, BBC gathered.
Meanwhile, traffic created by the road is expected to generate another 3.2 million tonnes over 60 years.
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Environmentalists say the statistics make a mockery of the prime minister’s claim to lead on climate change.
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A government report published in March provisionally estimated the UK’s net carbon emissions in 2019 to be 351.5 million tonnes.
The Thames crossing is said to be the UK’s biggest roads project since the M25.
Ministers say the scheme, supported by the CBI and the AA, will bring a huge economic boost on both sides of the river and relieve congestion on the orbital motorway.
But the emissions figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request after Highways England initially declined to release them, have angered environmentalists.
Campaigners say the tunnel should never have been proposed without a debate on the projected CO2 impacts, and have demanded the government freeze all projects that will increase emissions.
