Transport Key To Cuts In Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says IEA

As transport accounts for 25% of global energy-related CO₂ emissions, it must play a significant role if deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are to be made by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated in the new Transport, Energy and CO₂ : Moving Toward Sustainability report. This will be a challenge, the report says, as car ownership worldwide is set to triple to over 2bn by 2050. Trucking activity will double and air travel could increase fourfold, according to the IEA.  “Without strong global action, these trends will lead to a doubling of transport energy use, with an even higher growth rate in CO₂ emissions as the planet shifts toward high- CO₂ synthetic fuels,” the IEA said in a statement announcing the release of the report.

The report looks at ways to enable growth in mobility without accelerating climate change and finds that by shifting more travel to the most efficient modes, improving vehicle fuel efficiency by up to 50% by using cost-effective incremental technologies, and moving toward electricity, hydrogen and advanced biofuels, the world can reduce transport CO₂ emissions far below current levels by 2050, at lower costs than many assume. “If governments implement strong policies to achieve this scenario, dramatic reductions in CO₂ emissions by 2050 can be achieved,” the IEA said.

“The first priority should be to adopt technologies and practices that are cost effective today,” IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka says in the report’s foreword. “This will lead to substantial gains in vehicle fuel economy – we target a 50% improvement by 2030 for new light-duty vehicles. We should also move strongly toward better urban development practices and encourage sensible changes in the way we travel, by investing in a new generation of urban and intercity transit systems.”

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