At Pamoja Road Safety Initiative, we promote sustainable, low-emission transport and work
to reduce the sector’s contribution to air pollution and climate change.
Many of the world’s road vehicles are still run on oil, readily available at refilling stations,
at a cost affordable by many people.
Collectively, these vehicles produce huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other
greenhouse gases (GHG), particularly from private cars and goods vehicles, contributing in a
major way to climate change:
The world is being further paved with roads and vehicles are filling them, with the global
car fleet predicted to triple by 2050 and goods vehicles also increasing rapidly (as populations and trade increases).
Factories are churning out vehicles to meet the demand. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of vehicles manufactured rose from about 60 million a year to about 90 million a year. Production of vehicles is in itself a hazard to our planet.Many vehicle factories are powered by energy obtained from coal power stations, which produce significant carbon dioxide.
While some new vehicles are more energy efficient than older vehicles, the gains are marginal. Between 2005 and 2013 new car fuel economy (rate of fuel consumption) improved little, and meanwhile most cars on the road are not new, and the global fleet continues to grow, cancelling out fuel economy gains.
It is estimated that fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 from the world’s cars will
roughly double between 2000 and 2050.
Regulations controlling fuel economy and emission levels of vehicles is inadequate in
many countries and non-existent in others.
Lots can be done. However, about 90% of submissions from nations to the Paris climate change talks in 2015 did not include targets for reducing emissions from road transport. Because of the predicted explosion of numbers of cars and goods vehicles, governments must urgently tackle carbon emissions from them by:
Governments must also:
Strides are being made in the development and use of bio fuels (including use of human sewage) and sustainably-sourced electricity and hydrogen. Governments must take the lead in providing such fuels that are safe, affordable and accessible through refuelling stations.
People, particularly those in high-income nations, can also make personal choices to drive less, consume less and consume local, in order to reduce personal and freight journeys.
Pamoja Road Safety Initiative has worked with Kenya Alliance of Residents Associations in programs promoting non-motorized transport in Nairobi city to tackle car dependence, reduce demand for motorized vehicles, and encourage modal shift towards cleaner forms of mobility.
The Safe System approach to reducing road traffic fatalities can also make a significant contribution to tackling climate change. In combination with a reimagining of urban design, it is possible to build a
future free from car dependency and with dramatically reduced road traffic casualties – a low carbon future that improves quality of life, and mobility, for all.
A multi-modal transportation system creates a safe, convenient, and comfortable environment that provides choice for people in how they want to move around in a community, whether by walking,
cycling, rolling, transit or driving.
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We want a Kenya and world where everyone is free to move in a safe and healthy way, every day. We work to stop road deaths, injuries, and campaign for safe and healthy mobility for all.
