National Highways underestimated the number of LEDs already on its network by 10,000, creating confusion across its carbon reduction plans.
The re-evaluation appears to have have led the government-owned company to quietly row back on plans to convert 50,000 road lights to LED as part of a pledge to cut its operational carbon emissions by 12% by 2030.
The situation becomes even more confused because of two connected issues.
The first is the inconsistent way that National Highways reports the emissions from the electricity it purchases for the purposes of the 2030 target.
The second is that, having announced a £132m fund for LED conversion last year, National Highways is still aiming at a target of 70% LEDs on its network by 2027, even after discovering 10,000 extra LED lamps it had not originally factored in.
Reaching the target from a higher starting point would appear to involve converting fewer lamps.
Emissions from electricity
Under its 2021 net zero highways plan, the government-owned company pledged to reach net zero corporate emissions by 2030, including a cut of 12% compared to its 2020 emissions from a 'switch to LEDs'.
Last August, National Highways published a one-year progress report on the plan. According to this document, following a contract that will see National Highways purchase ‘100% renewable’ electricity, its ‘Scope 2’ emissions from purchased electricity were reduced to zero.
The implication of this is that LED replacement may cut electricity use but will have zero impact on the company’s attempts to hit the 2030 target. Any claim of an emissions cut based using less zero emission electricity would be clear double counting.
Despite this, an announcement last month highlighting the start of substantive work on the programme to achieve 70% LED lighting on the SRN 'as per the target in the Net Zero plan' stated that cutting emissions by using LEDs 'matters because lighting accounted for 64% of National Highways’ corporate energy consumption in the 2021/22 financial year'.
Plans gone awry?
According to the original webpage for the LED upgrade programme, the scheme involved replacing 'over 50,000 lights'. National Highways did not repeat this figure in recent announcements.
Based on a stated figure of 105,000 lights on the SRN, this would mean approximately 16,800 LEDs,
The one-year progress report highlighted that at that time 16% of the lights on the SRN were LED. Based on a stated figure of 105,000 lights on the SRN, this would mean approximately 16,800 LEDs.
However, last month's announcement quoted a figure of 26%. That would mean around 27,300 LEDs.
Asked by Highways to explain the anomaly, the company confirmed that the figure of 26% in last month’s announcement was correct.
The error appears to have been discovered as part of an audit to scope the upgrade.
A spokesperson stated that the recount reflected its 'commitment to improve the data and information used for reporting', which had 'improved the quality of information' and allowed for an 'updated figure' to be published.
Highways asked the company to clarify whether the LED upgrade programme has been cut back as a result of the recent recount and, if so, whether this will impact its contribution to carbon reduction.
National Highways did not directly answer this question but repeated that it still aimed to reach the target of 70% LED by 2030, suggesting that the number of lights converted will be fewer than originally planned as a result of the miscalculation.
It has not been confirmed where any spare cash would be reallocated, but as Highways has reported, National Highways does not have funding to upgrade lighting to LED beyond the 70% target.
The National Highways spokesperson described its reducing emissions to net zero as ‘a journey’, adding that ‘over time new solutions, information, and data, will become available and the path will become clearer'.
