Transport decarbonization and air quality

由于社会经济的变化和大幅减少温室气体排放的需要，全球交通运输业将经历前所未有的转型。这种转变不仅必须减缓气候变化，而且必须以公平的方式使社区空气质量受益。至关重要的是，运输部门脱碳的努力应考虑到温室气体减排的共同效益。2021年10月，世界卫生组织宣布了重要的变化，收紧了其空气质量准则，并强调减缓气候变化对改善空气质量和公众健康的重要性。替代燃料、交通电气化、网约车和电子商务都有望带来气候效益。然而，这些新的运输技术和服务对空气质量和环境正义的影响并没有很好地描述，阻碍了我们确定最佳解决方案的能力。为了预测交通运输创新对气候、空气质量和环境正义的影响，并为该行业目前正在发生的转型提供信息，拟议的研究计划将解决关键的知识空白。这包括：1)新交通技术的排放特征；2)新车辆技术、主动交通和人类行为改变对气候、空气质量和环境正义的影响；3)科学和实用的方法将增强我们监控和跟踪这种转变的能力。具体而言，本研究计划有三个目标：目标1：改善温室气体和空气污染物的运输排放清单。目标2：通过一套长期的运输脱碳途径，提高我们对社区一级空气污染和环境正义进行建模的能力。目标3：衡量人类行为、排放和干预措施对空气质量的影响，并制定社区参与和参与式数据收集的最佳做法。除了对科学的贡献之外，拟议中的研究项目还将帮助加拿大和全球的行业、政府和社区优先考虑交通创新，实现低排放到零排放，同时产生积极的社会影响。

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.