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# Conclusion

This course has looked at some of the environmental problems produced by UK transport. Local air pollution, particularly from NOx and particulates, has required tightening emission standards since the 1990s. Many cities worldwide have now introduced “low emission” policies restricting access to only those vehicles meeting the latest standards.

The UK is now (early 2025) seeking to drastically reduce its total CO2 emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2050. Past policies since the 1990s of incrementally improving the fuel economy of petrol- and diesel-engined cars will not produce a sufficiently radical improvement.

A step change is required:

- to ensure that overall transport demand is reduced and that it uses the least polluting modes of transport
- for a complete switch away from the use of fossil fuelled internal combustion engines to battery electric vehicles or those fuelled by hydrogen. In both cases, the electricity and the hydrogen needs to be provided from low-carbon sources such as renewable energy or nuclear power.

Although biofuels are currently blended with petrol and diesel fuel to reduce their carbon intensity, there are concerns about the sustainability of biofuel supplies. International shipping and aviation may prove to be sectors that will be difficult to decarbonise and biofuels could be a ‘choice of last resort’ for them.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course T213 Energy and Sustainability.

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OpenLearn - Transport and Sustainability
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