Transportation is ‘climate enemy #1’: report
Feb 2020 SmartCitiesDive | Jason Plautz With transportation as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., a new report from Environment America Research & Policy Center and the Frontier Group outlines “achievable” strategies to clean up the sector. The “Destination: Zero Carbon” report calls transportation “climate enemy #1” due to oversized vehicles, subsidized driving, inadequate transit, poor pedestrian infrastructure and car-dependent land use. It highlights three main targets to reach zero-carbon transportation: all new light-duty vehicles sold after 2035 are electric vehicles (EVs); all transit and school bus fleets are electrified by 2030; and the number of people who travel by walking, biking or taking transit is doubled by 2030. […] While the federal government is not taking much action to clean up transportation, notably by rolling back federal tailpipe emissions standards, cities and states have made low-carbon transportation a priority. One of the biggest efforts is set to come from the 11 Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia in the Transportation and Climate Initiative, which has released a draft memorandum of understanding for a cap-and-invest program to target transportation emissions. That plan, which would invest in transit and electric infrastructure, seeks to cut the region’s emissions by up to 25%.
