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On May 12, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla would suspend vehicle purchasing via Bitcoin. Musk was worried about the impact of surging energy consumption, fossil fuel usage, and its resulting emissions on the environment. The following day, he tweeted a graph showing how the electricity consumption of Bitcoin skyrocketed in the previous month. Musk’s tweet reminds us that despite all its controversies, Tesla still operates based on its company mission “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Earlier in the month, Tesla’s stock market share fell by more than 7% in one day, as China's Passenger Car Association reported that Tesla’s sales fell 27% in April from March. A significant drop in Tesla sales is just one of many provocative examples. This inevitably raises two questions regarding how transportation has changed during the pandemic: firstly, are we ultimately moving towards more sustainable means of transportation, and secondly, how can we build back greener innovatively in the sustainable transportation industry?
An overview of sustainable transportation
In each economy, transportation is linked with its transport modes, infrastructures and operations. Sustainable transportation, or sustainable mobility, aims to promote the integration of sustainable development concepts into transportation. Broadly speaking, it consists of three dimensions: environmental sustainability, such as addressing climate change and reducing noise pollution; economic sustainability, including employment and pricing; lastly, social sustainability, health, safety, and equality of access. Typical examples of sustainable transportation include cycling, walking, and public transportation such as buses and underground railways. We can see how it can be very difficult to precisely define sustainable transportation, as it needs to reconcile all these principles. Nevertheless, transportation usage is an important aspect of our life and unsustainable ways of transportation can have harmful impacts on our planet.
In 2017, it was reported by the European Commission that road transport contributed to 21% of the EU's total emissions of carbon dioxide. The WWF also stated that around one-quarter of global CO2 emissions come from the transportation of people and goods. As rural areas continue to urbanise, there might be an increasing need for people to travel to nearby cities, and the last thing we want is to see infinitely long waiting lines of fuel-engined private cars and traffic congestions everywhere. Recognising that the transformation to sustainable transportation is crucial for a sustainable future of mankind is not enough— the transformation involves every citizen in the society and is a behavioural shift and a change in lifestyle that might take years. Thus, we have to come back to the question: how has COVID-19 impacted our transportation usage?
Impact of COVID-19 on sustainable transport
It is not a surprise that during the crisis, transport emissions went down. In Germany, mtCO2 emissions from transport were reduced by 4-16%; however, this is only a short term result of the crisis. Let’s first break down both the positive and negative impacts that COVID-19 has had on sustainable transportation.
As countries have imposed stricter social distancing rules, public transportation usage has plummeted in most countries around the world. The World Economic Forum reported that up to ⅓ of people in major cities have stopped public transport usage due to the pandemic. From the Global Public Transport Report 2020, it was also reported that in Thessaloniki, Greece, that 34.4% of people no longer chose to use public transport, and 45% have reduced their public transport usage. Social distancing policies and the fear of crowds have moved people away from buses and trains. However, on the other hand, we’re seeing a shift into more cycling and walking. Bicycle sales during the pandemic have surged despite the economic recession to the extent where many bicycle suppliers have even struggled to meet the rising demand. One article from BBC titled “The Great Bicycle Boom of 2020” highlighted a few main reasons behind such a bike boom, the first one being government incentives. For instance, Italy allocated €210m towards a cash-back program where Italian residents who purchase any non-engine vehicle would be able to receive a payback up to €500. Many bicycle retailers were given exemptions from lockdown by the government, giving them a unique position and competitive advantage to operate profitably during the pandemic. The second reason is related to our physical and mental health. Apart from the more apparent physical health benefits from cycling, such as improving cardiovascular fitness, improving joint muscle health, strength in the legs, cycling could also help to fight depression and greatly reduce mental stress. With the shutdown of gyms, swimming pools and restrictions on other physical activities, cycling became an increasingly popular way for people to keep fit. Evidently, Fitness apps such as Strava reported huge surges in cycling in unexpected cities such as Los Angeles and Houston. The third reason is the construction of more cycling infrastructure or cycling lanes in cities. Paris added hundreds of kilometres of pop-up cycle lanes along the Rue du Rivoli. Similarly, in London, a new bike lane was constructed along Hyde Park; riders now find it more convenient to cycle to their destination, which has largely boosted bicycle demand.
Another interesting perspective is the impact of COVID-19 on the airline industry. The pandemic posed a detrimental challenge for all players in the air transport industry, regardless of their size. But it was also a time for a reshuffling and rethinking of their strategies and how they should reassess their risks. The crisis has made it clear that climate risk is an aspect that should not be neglected. With pressure from governments around the world, especially in the EU— where environmental regulations have become stricter— large airline companies have to be more mindful of their environmental impact. For example, Air France received a €7 billion grant from the French government, which comes with clear environmental conditions to reduce carbon emissions with a shift to alternative fuels. Similarly, a bailout package of €600 million was offered to Austrian Airlines with quantitative requirement related to sustainability, including cutting domestic CO2 emissions in half by 2030, reducing total CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030, and improving fuel efficiency by 1.5% per year to achieve an average carbon footprint per 100 passenger kilometre of 8.5kg by 2030, compared to a current footprint of 9.55kg.
Greener recovery with sustainable transportation
As mentioned previously, the reduction in transport emission during the pandemic is likely to be a short term phenomenon due to economic recession. In order to make sure that we do not rebound with an even higher level of emission post-pandemic and stay on track with our progress towards net zero goals in 2030/2050, both the public and private sectors need to engage to promote greener recovery with sustainable transport. Here I highlight a few important aspects in which they could do this.
Government investment and policies
Since in most countries, public transports are operated by the government, the continuous flow of public investments into sustainable public transport is essential, and the government should dedicate a reasonable proportion of COVID-19 stimulus to growing and repairing sustainable transportation. For example, in Germany’s €130 billion COVID-19 recovery programme, approximately €20 billion were allocated for measures to promote sustainable mobility, including but not limited to financial incentives to purchase electric vehicles and non-engine vehicles, improving charging infrastructure, modernisation, and expansion of railways in transport decarbonisation measures. Apart from financial investments, effective policies and regulations have to be put in place to make sure people feel safe when using public transportation. It is worth highlighting that these policies should be designed based on specific contexts and the lifestyle of the local community. The following are a few successful examples:
Lagos: Ensure that buses only carry sitting passengers to minimise contact and crowding.
Lima: 75% of residents travel by public transport - the government now requires buses to run at half capacity. As an alternative, emergency bike lanes are installed, and the government is working with partners to develop an inexpensive bicycle model to be manufactured locally.
Bogotá: remove elements of buses that are more susceptible to virus contamination, such as carpets and seat covers.
Off-board fare-collection enabled by technology
Implementation of transit-oriented development (TOD) policies
Cooperation between stakeholders
To pave the way to green recovery, a global effort is required. All stakeholders including global organizations, NGOs, private corporations and each individual in the society need to be engaged in the process. An effective and balanced public-private partnership in public transportation provision has been proven successful in many cities, for example, the GoldLinQ project in Australia, in which the private sector is responsible for designing, constructing, manufacturing, and installing the light railway system. Collaborating with the private sector— which might be more cost and time-efficient in construction— manufacturing and production processes allow the public sector to focus on how to better promote and propose appropriate policies around the operation and usage of the transportation system. The harmony between the public and private sector yields a win-win result. At the same time, international organizations play critical roles in promoting the development of cross-border sustainable transportation, such as air travel and maritime mobility. By enabling effective coordination and communication between multiple local authorities and stakeholders ( e.g. ports, importing and exporting corporations, government administrator, airports), international standards on emission restrictions can be established, and each local checkpoint can become a reliable source of data for measuring levels of emissions. Furthermore, international organizations can act as a middleman to balance interests between countries and handle any possible disputes, reaching coherent strategies for countries to implement on a global scale.
Innovation
Rapid technology development has allowed us to step towards a more sustainable future in various ways. In the transportation industry, we have seen major breakthroughs in innovative solutions to cleaner fuel and alternative energy sources. For aircraft, SAFs(sustainable aviation fuels) are produced from sustainable feedstocks, such as solid waste, packaging, paper, textiles, and food scraps from homes and businesses that would otherwise go to landfills. It was estimated by BP that the use of SAF would be able to reduce carbon emissions up to 80% over the lifecycle of the fuel. It is very promising to see, then, how major airline companies and governments are pushing for such transitions. Apart from SAFs, hydrogen and electric-powered aircraft are also brand new ideas emerging in the market. Airbus, for example, has unveiled three new aircraft concepts that use hydrogen as a primary power source last September, and has claimed that it “holds exceptional promise as a clean aviation fuel”.
There are also numerous interesting innovations in the field of solar energy. The proposal of Solar trains by Riding — a company focusing on decarbonising rail traction networks— is leading changes in rail transportation. Furthermore, New EnergySail technology brought solar panels to cargo ships to cut the shipping industry’s CO2 emissions. The government of Singapore rolled out a six-month trial of public buses with solar panels, advancing sustainable public transport to the next level. Nevertheless, these innovations face a common challenge: the high costs and lack of standard regulations are impeding the upscaling of such alternative energy solutions. Therefore, engaging multiple stakeholders and encouraging corporations to cut down costs and establish international standards are the critical drivers for wide adoption.
Concluding Remarks
Our perception of transportation has experienced a radical shift during COVID-19. Health, safety and environmental impacts are now major factors of consideration, imposing both challenges and opportunities upon the promotion of sustainable transportations. If we could change how the public usually thinks about public transportation— crowded, time-consuming, and unclean, to being convenient, well-managed and carefully sanitized, and couple it with effective government incentives to promote sales of other private sustainable transport such as bicycle and electric vehicles— we could reimagine a future that fully shifts towards sustainable transportation that can be achieved within the next ten years.