Bubble-Mobile: increase your mobility, not your emissions

According to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, 10% of the world population account for more than 80% of total motorized passenger-kilometers. Historically, increasing a city’s mobility would mean increasing its emissions, but recent trends have demonstrated that this two features are finally decoupling, and may be greatly due to private transport saturation in cities and to higher urban densities.

THE SUM OF THE PARTS

A series of human choices, technological advances and infrastructure dimensions converge in the intricate outcome of transport emissions. The Figure below shows a comprehensive decomposition of this emissions and proposes a set of policy instruments that would cut the rates through different relevant actors.

Figure 1: Decomposition of greenhouse gas emission in transportation (A), relevant actors (B), and corresponding policy instruments (C). Source: Creutzig et al., 2011.

Nevertheless, not all the instruments apply in all cities. Some regions have limited available choice for transportation and others may be forced to intense transportation due to their scale or density.

Individually we should take some moments to see through the bubble and learn the best options to cut emissions in our city, either choosing a cleaner transport, reducing the number of journeys or shortening the distance of our trips.

So how does your Bubble-Mobile looks like? Is it a motorized one? A double-wheeled human-fueled? Or a red double-decker hybrid? 

Have you ever tried to reduce your transportation emissions? Do you think is possible in your city? Comment your experience!