If the US is to meet its targets in reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gases, it must achieve significant improvements in vehicle technology and reduce vehicle miles travelled.
That’s the verdict of a report released by EMBARQ – the World Resources Institute’s Centre for Sustainable Transport – called The Role of Driving in Reducing GHG Emissions and Oil Consumption: Recommendations for Federal Transportation Policy.
The authors have analysed eight scenarios through to 2050 that consists of one set of vehicle technology assumptions, one set of assumptions for greenhouse gas emissions and oil savings; and a projection of sustainable vehicle miles travelled per capita.
Under every scenario, even under optimistic technology assumptions and less aggressive oil use and greenhouse gas emission reductions, it found that the United States will need to moderate per capita vehicle miles travelled related to BAU projections which suggest vehicle miles travelled will be approximately 40 per cent above 2010 levels in 2050.
In fact, even under the optimistic assumptions about vehicle technology, three out of four scenarios show that vehicle miles travelled per capita must stay at, or decrease below 2010 levels by 2050.
However, the analysis does suggest that with decisive action it may be possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption from transportation. In order to achieve this, the US should modify federal transportation policy to prioritise investments towards reducing vehicle miles travelled, greenhouse gases and oil consumption.
Among the steps that can be taken include: encouraging states and regions to boost the use of existing funding flexibility to increase investments in transportation strategies; providing technical support for standardisation evaluation of programmes and projects; and simplifying public access to project spending databases.
