Technical Note 1: Low-emission mobility & transport

Transport accounts for about 25% of Europe’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2015 and the emissions mainly stem from road transport fuel. Main strategies to reduce GHG emission from transport include (1) the reduction of transport demand, (2) a shift in transport modes to those with higher energy efficiency and lower GHG emissions, (3) an increase in vehicle technology and efficiency, as well as (4) a switch to low-carbon fuels such as biofuels or renewables.

In most mitigation scenarios (especially global IAM scenarios), reductions are mostly achieved through fuel switching and further enhancements in energy efficiency. Creutzig et al. (2015) argue that limiting demand growth by shifting to modes that are more efficient and reducing the distance travelled has limited application in global IAM scenarios and emissions could be further reduced than currently suggested.

The aim of the present technical note, which can be downloaded with the link below, is to discuss current practices in modelling policies for a transition towards low-carbon transport. We discuss the examples of fuel switch in road transport and travel demand modelling. We close with a few comments on policy modelling and best practices in general.