Watch video: In the second of our 10-part video series, The Way Forward, Rod Oram looks at big new ideas that can lead our response to climate change.
Transport and farming are our two toughest sectors in which to combat climate change. They are our two largest sources of our greenhouse gas emissions. While both sectors have multiple ways to cut them, it’s very hard to shift the status quo in either sector.
The government’s current goal is a 41 percent reduction in all transport emissions by 2035 from 2019 levels. But so far its policies and programmes are few, though more are under development.
Electric cars, however, are only part of the answer. We still have to respond to a growing population and their transport needs, which we can never meet entirely by building more roads.
READ PART ONE: Why NZ must integrate nature and urban design
That’s why it is crucially important to encourage people to shift where possible to other modes of transport for some of their journeys. Opening up the roads to them, provides transport infrastructure that’s cheaper and quicker than a shift from fossil fuels to electric power. Crucially, it solves the bigger challenge of helping our towns and cities meet the needs of their growing populations.
In this episode on transport, Dr Paul Winton, founder of Temple, a capital investment adviser, and Professor Alistair Woodward of the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health, describe how we can encourage shifts in transport modes and the benefits we will gain.
