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The Department for Transport (DfT) has no coherent policy on reducing emissions and desperately needs to make some changes, a new report has claimed.

According to the warning from environmental groups, the DfT does not even understand the effect its own policies have on the environment and as a result could incur environmental costs of at least £30.9 billion by 2025.

It says that cars in Britain emit on average 29.4 more grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre than is currently the target and moreover, by making car use relatively cheaper, the DfT is discouraging people from using buses and trains instead.

Friends of the Earth's senior transport campaigner Tony Bosworth commented: "The Department for Transport is losing the battle against climate change, and unless it changes its policies, it will continue to fail.

"Transport secretary Douglas Alexander must make action on global warming his main priority. And the government must back growing calls for a climate law to make successive governments responsible for annual cuts in carbon dioxide."

The report advocates that the DfT instead focuses on reducing and enforcing speed limits, which previous studies have proven to be an effective method of decreasing emissions.

The DfT has come under heavy criticism recently as congestion also seemingly spirals out of control, with the department admitting that journey times in urban areas are set to rise considerably over the next few years.