SAW CHOO BOON: Sustainable mobility a climate change driver

2009/11/07

By Saw Choo Boon

WITH transportation accounting for around a quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity, achieving sustainable mobility is crucial to any plan to stem climate change.

People often say that taking action to address climate change is an easier decision for the "haves". The "have-nots" need to worry about putting food on the table.

Progress and development, jobs and a better standard of living for all are our priorities, here in developing countries. Unfortunately, we also need to worry about climate change.

A recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) report noted that Southeast Asian nations are likely to suffer more from climate change than the world average. The region is especially vulnerable to a rise in sea levels and temperatures that might result from global warming, given the long coastlines, heavy reliance on agriculture, natural resources and forestry, as well as the high levels of poverty.

For example, the ADB notes that for every one degree Celsius that temperatures rise, rice yields in the region could fall by 10 per cent. That brings the subject quickly home to the dinner table.

Cities become increasingly congested and polluted by emissions from vehicles. While we may not be as bad as the other major cities in Asia, we can rapidly become like them if we, the government, private sector and society at large, do not act now.

Addressing climate change requires a global effort in which we must participate actively. But urban pollution and traffic congestion are local problems within our power to resolve. There are a variety of solutions.

For a start, motorists must learn to use their vehicles more efficiently. Energy companies like Shell are developing fuel formulas to give better fuel economy and are educating motorists on the need to adopt a more fuel-efficient driving style.

Governments must improve public transportation in the country, particularly in the cities. For Malaysia, this would make a more sustainable plan to address the incredible amount that the government has to spend on subsidies annually.

People must be able to see public transportation as a viable alternative to driving. An efficient and reliable public transportation will be able to persuade people to leave their cars behind.

More efficient vehicles, combined with a diverse supply of cleaner fuels, are just as critical. Many are surprised to learn that only about 30 per cent of the fuel that we put into our cars gets used to move it forward. The rest is wasted and lost, so there is much scope to improve efficiency.

While energy companies and car manufacturers need to continue working together to develop cleaner fuels and vehicles, we need to promote the use of more efficient vehicles.

Some progress has already been made. With supportive government tax policies, the environmentally conscious motorist can now buy a hybrid car right here in Malaysia.

Today, all fuels in Malaysia are Euro II M compliant, with significantly lower sulphur levels. The government has plans to move to Euro IV specifications, which are even better for the more efficient and cleaner advanced diesel engines.

These diesel engines should be encouraged and public transport systems should also be made to run on much cleaner fuels such as gas or the virtually sulphur-free Gas-To-Liquid diesel.

These are small steps, of course. Building a sustainable transport sector will take time and entail heavy investments. It will not be cost-free.

It is also one where consumers pay the true price of fuels, rather than having these masked by subsidies. Ultimately, though, such a system might be more reflective of the true costs that societies incur from transport, taking into account the gains from greater productivity, more leisure time and improved health from less traffic congestion and cleaner air.

The hidden cost of carbon dioxide -- about one kilo of CO2 is dumped into the air for every kilometre that you drive -- and the impact this has on global warming might also one day have to be factored into the true costs of transport.

We also need to work at laying the right foundations now -- keep developing cleaner, more efficient fuels and vehicle technologies, make a concerted effort to improve urban planning and public transportation, and focus on educating our young on the importance of conserving energy.

Next year, Shell Malaysia will be hosting the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia in Kuala Lumpur. The challenge is to design a vehicle that can go as far as possible, on the least amount of fuel.

More than 100 teams from universities around Asia have registered for the challenge, with 26 teams from universities in Malaysia alone.

Achieving sustainable mobility is not too distant a dream, when our future is already thinking of solutions today.

And coming closer to home, if the government would make this a top priority and we the public play our part, achieving a sustainable transport system might just be possible in Malaysia, sooner than we think.

Datuk Saw Choo Boon is chairman of Shell Malaysia and president of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Malaysia