•  mexico city
• Tuesday, October 11, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Policies for higher fuel efficiency in vehicles could contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of transportation, which is responsible for 23 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, according to experts at a meeting in the Mexican capital.

Mexico emits some 709 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, of which 60 percent is derived from energy production and consumption. Transport contributes 134 million tonnes a year of CO2, one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. 'A mechanism could be created for industry so that producers who reduce emissions below their target can transfer the difference to those who do not meet their goal,' Jorge Macías of the Centre for Sustainable Transport Mexico (CTS-Mexico) told IPS.

The NGO received a grant of 100,000 euros (133,000 dollars) from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) to fund its 2009-2010 project titled 'An emissions cap and trade scheme for the Mexican automobile industry.' The programme consisted of a feasibility study and design of an emissions trading mechanism (ETM) for CO2.

The report concluded that an ETM, such as those already implemented in the United States, the European Union, China and Japan, would indeed be viable and would have social, economic and environmental benefits for both industry and consumers. In the first year of operation it would be expected to save two million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The National Institute of Ecology estimated that automobile manufacturing generated approximately 140,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2007. The Mexican auto fleet is made up of 23 million vehicles, with an average age of at least 15 years. The average fuel consumption is 12.2 km per litre, but this could reach 18 km per litre in 2017 through efficiency measures. In the United States the average figure for fuel economy is 16.3 km per litre.

'The costs associated with transport projects have to be paid for, including environmental degradation. We have the opportunity to design an international policy that would include transport in the climate change equation,' Ramón Cruz, an expert at the U.S. Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), told IPS.

In partnership with four other agencies, ITDP is promoting an initiative called 'Bridging the Gap: Pathways for transport in the post 2012 process', which aims to integrate the transport sector into climate change policy, as well as develop strategies to include incentives for sustainable land transport in climate negotiations.

Connections between transport and policies for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) on climate change were one of the central topics at the 7th International Congress on Sustainable Transport, held Oct. 3-5 in Mexico City.

NAMA measures were highlighted at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16), held last December in Cancún, a southeastern Mexican resort city. The COP 16 final document encouraged countries to register their mitigation and adaptation actions with the Convention, in order to receive financial and technical support.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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