Transport decarbonization and air quality

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Due to socioeconomic shifts and the need to achieve deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the global transportation sector will experience an unprecedented transformation. This transformation must not only mitigate climate change, but also enable community air quality benefits in an equitable manner. It is crucial that efforts to decarbonize the transportation sector be informed by the co-benefits of greenhouse gas reduction. In October 2021, the World Health Organization announced important changes, tightening its air quality guidelines, and stressing the importance of climate mitigation that improves air quality and public health. Alternative fuels, transport electrification, ride hailing, and e-commerce all promise climate benefits. However, the implications of these new transportation technologies and services on air quality and environmental justice are not well characterized, hindering our ability to identify the best possible solutions. To anticipate the effects of transportation innovations on climate, air quality, and environmental justice, and to inform the transformation currently occurring in the sector, the proposed research program will address key knowledge gaps. These include: 1) the emission characteristics of new transportation technologies; 2) the impacts of new vehicle technologies, active transportation, and altered human behaviour on climate, air quality, and environmental justice; and 3) scientific and practical approaches that will enhance our ability to monitor and track this transformation over time. Specifically, this research program has three objectives:Objective 1: Improve transportation emission inventories for greenhouse gases and air pollutants. Objective 2: Enhance our capacity to model community-level air pollution and environmental justice following a set of long-term transport decarbonization pathways.Objective 3: Measure human behaviour, emissions, and air quality impacts of interventions and develop best practices for community engagement and participatory data collection. Beyond its contribution to science, the proposed research program will help industry, government, and communities, in Canada and globally, prioritize transportation innovations that will achieve low to zero emissions while producing positive societal impacts.