Potential of urban greening for carbon dioxide reduction from transportation sector

Abstract

Various urban activities which exist in different lands uses in Mojokerto City such as settlement, commercial area, public service, and industrial area form the urban dynamic. Urban dynamic is stimulated by some factors including mobility of people and goods, information, and money. People’s mobility which dominates the urban mobility is accommodated by transportation mode causing transportation sector ranks the top first sector contributing to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in urban area, including Mojokerto City. Therefore, the study aims to propose reasonable solution for CO2 emissions reduction from transportation sector. The total amount of CO2 emissions is calculated first, and vegetation capacity to absorb CO2 is calculated afterwards using the formula for emission generation and bio capacity respectively. Development of urban greening is proposed to improve the bio-capacity of urban greening to absorb the remaining emissions. Based on the emission calculation, the total amount of CO2 emissions from transportation sector ranges between 6.6 to to 262.1 ton/year depending on the traffic volume and the distance covered by motorized vehicles. Meanwhile, calculation of bio capacity shows that the average absorption of vegetation in Mojokerto City is only 863.91 ton/yr. Improving urban greening area by planting more trees with higher absorption capacity is proposed to absorb the remaining emission. Calculation shows that enhanced urban greening can increase the emission absorption from 4% to 7% of the total emission from transportation sector.