Sustainability and EU Road Transport Carbon Emissions from Consumption of Diesel and Gasoline in 2000 and 2018

Arshad Bhat,Javier Ordóñez Garcia

doi:10.3390/app11167601

Abstract

To accomplish the 1.5 °C and 2 °C climate change targets, the European Union (EU) has set up several policy initiatives. Within the EU, the carbon emissions of the road transport sector from the consumption of diesel and gasoline are constantly rising. (1) Background: due to road transport policies, diesel and gasoline use within the EU is increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and adding to climate risks. (2) Methods: sustainability analysis used was based on the method recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (3) Results: to meet its road transport requirements, the EU produces an estimated 0.237–0.245 billion tonnes of carbon per year from its total consumption of diesel and gasoline. (4) Conclusion: if there is no significant reduction in diesel and gasoline carbon emissions, there is a real risk that the EU’s carbon budget commitment could lapse and that climate change targets will not be met. Sustainability analysis of energy consumption in road transport sector shows the optimum solution is the direct electrification of road transport.

Highlights

Decarbonisation of road transport in response to the climate change challenge is a complex political, economic and technological challenge for all stakeholders in the EuropeanUnion (EU)
The results showed a net increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2000 and 2018, and there is evidence to suggest that this was caused by the fuel excise duty of member states
The fuel excise duty could be leveraged to initiate emission reductions in the European Union (EU)

Summary

Introduction

Decarbonisation of road transport in response to the climate change challenge is a complex political, economic and technological challenge for all stakeholders in the European. To address this challenge, a sustainability study that estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption from diesel and gasoline consumption within the EU is needed. The EU has traditionally been at the forefront of the world’s energy and climate politics and has a bespoke programme to decarbonise its energy and transport sectors. It adopted the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the increase in global temperature to less than 2 ◦ C [1]. CO2 is the most predominant GHG, and the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report on CO2 emissions from fuel combustion [4]

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Discussion

Conclusion