Biofuel wrong way to tackle emissions problem: Transport expert
BALI, Indonesia -- There are better -- not to mention, cheaper --emission-saving strategies than those involving biofuel, says a leader of a global transportation group. Jack Short, Secretary General of the International Transport Forum, recently told delegates gathering at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, that too often nations are choosing "high cost and low impact measures" like biofuel development rather than more "cost-effective measures to reduce CO(2) emissions in transport." "Because the challenge for the sector to reduce its CO2 emissions is immense, neither industrial nor developing countries can afford to get priorities wrong," he said. Short says that over the next decades, all modes of transport will likely double world transport emissions by 2030. To mitigate the impact, he called for "wide ranging and integrated policy packages," which would "not to restrict mobility, but to manage it." These include significant advances in vehicle and vehicle component technology supported by a range of policy measures aimed at increasing fuel efficiency, such as tax and regulatory incentives for improved, fuel-efficient vehicle components, tires, lubricants, air systems and lights. Training, information and support for "ecodriving" is also highly cost effective with an immediate pay-off in reduced emissions, he added. "These are the most cost-effective practices," Short stressed, "but at present we are not taking advantage of them. We are putting too much hope in expensive options like biofuels that are neither cost effective nor necessarily good environmentally."