Low-carbon transport by 2050

A report by sustainability advisors Thinkstep says reducing the carbon footprint by up to 90 per cent is achievable with a combination of new vehicle technologies, behavioural change and investment in renewable energy generation. 

“Currently transport is responsible for roughly one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions,” says Dr Jeff Vickers, technical director of Thinkstep. 

“Many people think that enabling alternatives to the car is the best way to reduce carbon emissions in New Zealand,” says Stephen Selwood, chief executive of Infrastructure New Zealand.

“But Thinkstep’s report calculates that a shift to electric, biofuel and hydrogen-powered vehicles has the potential to reduce carbon emissions from consumption by up to 88 per cent by 2050."

According to the report, car-sharing, teleworking and the uptake of public transport can all help unclog our roads, but their contribution to reducing carbon emissions is comparatively small at 15 per cent. 

“This analysis confirms that we should pursue rapid electrification supplemented by biofuel and fuel cell vehicles as the principal means to enable a low carbon transport system,” says Selwood.

However, ride-sharing can cause a positive change in the short term, adds Vickers. 

“While we still depend on fossil fuels, ride-sharing has the potential to be a quick win for New Zealand on climate change,” says Vickers. “It reduces carbon emissions and road congestion immediately, and the carbon story gets even better as we move to electric vehicles.

This report “Creating a positive drive: Decarbonisation of New Zealand’s transport sector by 2050” follows Thinkstep’s first sector-specific carbon footprinting report for New Zealand, which was published in May and focused on the built environment.

The full report can be downloaded here.