ESG Economist - No easy road to decarbonizing road mobility
In this ESG Economist we start with an overview of greenhouse gas emissions of the mobility sector and the recent state of play in terms of the vehicle fleet followed by setting out the policy measures taken by the EU and the Netherlands to reduce emissions. Then we highlight the technologies used in road mobility that help to reduce emissions. However, each technology has its challenges and we give a detailed overview of the obstacles on the path to net zero. We wrap up with our judgements on what would at this point in time be the most viable technology for the various road mobility sectors.
The aim of the EU to be net zero by 2050 is an enormous challenge
The mobility sector is responsible for 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with road mobility being the biggest emitter. Therefore the EU has set ambitious targets for road mobility to reduce emissions.
Where GHG emissions across the European economy declined by 32% between 1990 and 2019, GHG emissions from road mobility increased by 7%. So road mobility needs to step up efforts to reduce emissions substantially.
There are several technologies and solutions that are crucial to reduce these emissions. Battery electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries and permanent magnets. Fuel cell electric vehicles use fuel cells mainly fuelled by hydrogen. Vehicles with internal combustion engines could be fuelled by synthetic fuels.
The choice of technology or technologies for each subsector in road mobility depends on availability of a technology, the efficiency, the cost and infrastructure.
There are numerous challenges to the technologies/solutions to reduce emissions. For battery electric vehicles these are affordability (cars), infrastructure and range. For fuel cell battery electric vehicles these are efficiency, infrastructure and price to produce low-emission hydrogen and for synthetic fuels efficiency, affordability and limited supply.
Therefore reaching the ambitious European and Dutch targets may prove to be difficult.
Without the infrastructure (battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles) and/or substantial production (synthetic fuels) vehicles will not be able to reduce the needed emissions.