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At the beginning of the 21st century the transport systems play a more important role in our societies than ever and are still a growing market. A major fraction of our population is employed in the production of cars, planes, trains, ships or other vehicles, in supplier industries, in logistics and transport services, in production and provision of fuel or in world-wide tourism.The direct contribution of transport to the world-wide carbon dioxide emissions is about 21%, and in the industrialised OECD countries it reaches 27%. The International Energy Agency expects that these emissions will grow from 4900 million tonnes in 2002 up to 8700 million tonnes in 2030.The transport sector requires more than 50% of the global oil demand and is now strongly increasing in the countries of East Asia. Experts estimate that in China alone the car fleet may grow until 2030 by a number which is similar to the total car fleet running now in the United States of America.
The world-wide oil production cannot bear this development without major changes in the technologies and changes in our personal behaviour. And there are also likely to be far reaching consequences on our climate system because of the emissions of gases and particles from the transport sector. For policy makers, as for all of us, it is important to understand the status quo, the needs, the potential developments and the dangers arising from the global transport systems. In part 1 we give an overview of the present situation in Europe and in the world: Who runs how many vehicles and how much energy is needed for it? What are the conditions in the local infrastructure and for what purposes do we use the transport systems? What are the recent developments in world-wide traffic? What emissions are caused by the present technologies and what alternatives are achievable, and over what time period? What are the consequences of the necessary changes for ourselves and how can we contribute in the best way to reorganise the transport sector according to the needs of a more sustainable development?
The QUANTIFY project investigates primarily the climate impact of transport systems.
Read more in part 2 ...
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