It seems that COP26 Transport Day, is set to focus mainly on electric vehicles. Of course, a consensus on the pace of transition to zero emission vehicles is needed to meet climate targets. It is also clear that there is a need for a commitment to ensure all new car sales are restricted to zero emission vehicles. Or that countries should put in place policies to ensure that fleet-owning businesses commit to achieving fully zero emission fleets. Those needs are all depicted in the official description of the COP26 Transport Day and, despite being undeniably necessary measures, what is missing is the encouragement for truly green transportation. It seems that alternative means of transport, such as electric trains and active mobility modes, were left out of the agenda when in truth they represent the only sustainable option.
Don’t get us wrong: we undoubtedly want the electric transition in mobility, but it will take too long. On the contrary, walking, trains, bicycles, and other similar means are the only ones that can sharply reduce emissions by 2030. Transport represents around 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions, and, moreover, is the main cause of mortality in cities. Air pollution, closely linked to transport, causes annually millions of premature deaths and diseases, such as coronary or respiratory diseases, and is the most important environmental risk factor for human health. This represents a heavy bill on individual health and on public health systems of billions of dollars per year. Unfortunately, ‘air pollution’ or ‘climate change’ are never the culprits on death certificates, being that both are still dismissed as possible causes of death and their effect relegated to oblivion.
The so-called green technology is seen by many as a panacea to the climate crisis – including, apparently, the UK Presidency in the case of transports – and the focus of many current public policies. In the case of road passenger transport, which in many countries is mostly done by car, the big bet is on electric cars, in principle much cleaner than conventional ones. But is the electric car really the desired climate remedy?
The truth is that it will take too long for these cars to start having an appreciable positive climate impact. And even when electric cars penetrate heavily into fleets, transport emissions will not decline fast enough. In addition, the number of electric cars that need to be made available is so high – ponder that there are more than one billion conventional cars in the world! – that it will pose many difficulties in supplying them and an unsustainable pressure on the natural resources needed for their production, such as lithium, cobalt and manganese.
Therefore, in order to comply with climate goals, it is essential to curb cars on the road, not only replace them with electric equivalents. Instead, what is needed is to promote public transport, shared mobility, bicycles and the good old walking. Electric cars are not enough to solve the climate problem in transport. Rather, they are just a piece of a big puzzle, which should include a comprehensive range of public policies that significantly reduce the use of the private car. In this sense, ECO would much prefer a bicycle exhibition at the COP 26 venue to an electric car one!