The effect of transport emissions on the environment and the role of gas in mitigating it
In the last decade, there has been a lot of research pointing the need to reduce our CO2 emissions in order to mitigate and, if possible, cease the effects of climate change. Transport, overall, is a particularly interesting source of emissions for two reasons. First, because the CO2 from emitted seems to be increasing year on year and, second, because there is a lot that can and should be done about it already but somehow a lot of these discussions remain to be implemented by our governments.
At the same time, there isn’t a lot of time left for us to do something about this growing problem. In this article, we will focus on these two factors and why it should matter to all of us.
Why do emissions increase year on year
That can be difficult to comprehend because, on the surface, each year we see new technology which is better, more efficient and with less emitting.
This is certainly true and if you think about the average car from 1990 and compare it with the ones we have on the streets today, you would see a massive difference. Car manufacturers have been under a lot of pressure to cut emissions by making their vehicles lighter, more efficient and less polluting.
So yes, new cars today emit less than those from the last decade – then where’s the catch?
The reality of the situation is that we are using transport a lot more today than back in the day. In fact, looking around you it would be extremely challenging to find something that didn’t get transported from somewhere, in one shape or form. The more we are growing economically, the more needs we have and transport is one of the industries that has seen and will likely continue to see overwhelming activity growth.
So much so that the trend which evidence suggests points that road transport emissions are going to increase in comparison with what they were in 1990, whereas other sectors have already found a way to curb theirs effectively.
Is technological effort enough
If road emissions represent 22% of all greenhouse emission in the EU, you can quickly grasp the urgency of addressing this issue.
Is it possible to reduce emissions? Yes, it is.
But the real question is whether we can do that only relying on the potential developments in vehicle technology. The answer to this is rather complex – of course, vehicle manufacturers are investing a lot to achieve such results, but there is another side of it and that’s to consider the fuel itself.
We have already discussed how the same gas that we use to fuel our vehicles can be sustainably produced. This is a concrete example of how we can reduce effectively transport emissions in the short, medium and long term.
In fact, certain countries like Sweden, for example, are already successfully embracing this idea on a national level and there CNG vehicles run already in a carbon-neutral way.
We will discuss more of this in the following months, but the bottom line is this – there is no silver bullet to solve all problems, however, it is evermore interesting and pressing to take action especially when there’s so much opportunity already available.