Timothy Welch, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Tackling climate change is a budget priority, but will we see the major investment in cycling infrastructure and public transport that is one obvious solution?
Transportation planning includes highways, public transit, automobile infrastructure and the movement of people and goods.
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A new international report on climate change finds rapid changes could cut emissions from transportation by 80% to 90%. Three behavior change trends could bring big improvements.
Hopefully, we aren’t actually what we eat.
ozgurdonmaz/iStock via Getty Images
Studies show that when people can ride in a car without having to operate it, they increase their car use. That could increase traffic and pollution, unless government puts a price on car travel.
Integrating solar panels with farming can provide partial shade for plants.
Werner Slocum/NREL
Renewable energy is expanding at a record pace, but still not fast enough. Here are the key areas to watch for progress in bringing more wind and solar into the power grid in 2022.
Demand for real estate throughout Canada has made housing unaffordable.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
As demand grows for real estate and housing prices rise, more people are being priced out of the market. Government intervention is needed to produce affordable housing and control speculation.
Reducing household energy use can contribute to slowing climate change.
Westend61 via Getty Images
How and where people spend their money and use energy can influence corporate behavior.
A coal mine in Alberta. Canada has adopted a carbon neutral target for 2050. It represents a major change Canada’s approach to reducing GHG emissions.
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The goal of carbon neutrality changes everything. Canada can no longer limit itself to solutions that partially reduce emissions here and there. The chosen solution must be zero emissions.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seeing nothing but blue skies ahead when it comes to his policies on climate change. But will the newly re-elected Liberal government follow through?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
While the outcome of the 2021 federal election offered little in the way of change, it may have left Canada better positioned to make progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Greyhound has permanently shut down its intercity bus service in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Many communities in Canada currently lack intercity and regional transportation. A national public transportation system would improve connectedness between cities and access to essential services.
Shipping is responsible for a large portion of global emissions.
William William/Unsplash
The pandemic could be a boon to car use, but it would be a mistake for governments to let that happen. There’s a golden opportunity to push towards a zero-carbon transportation system.
Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
COVID-19 has underscored the value of parks and public spaces. A new survey shows that US mayors have gotten the message, but post-pandemic plans for public spaces remain largely undefined.
Part of Canada’s land border with the United States is closed at the Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, B.C. on April 28, 2020.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)
Current travel restrictions aren’t applied uniformly for air and land travellers. Similar restrictions need to be applied to land border crossings to curb the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.
Public transit drivers are now responsible for preventing unmasked passengers from boarding and removing unruly customers.
Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images
Recent federal mask mandates on all public transit have burdened bus drivers with difficult and sometimes dangerous duties to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
In Paris, the major east-west axis, from the Place de la Concorde to the Place de la Bastille, as given a temporary ‘coronapiste’ after the pandemic broke out. Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said that it will become permanent.
Mairie de Paris
The need for social distancing sparked a cycling boom, cutting air pollution and boosting city dwellers’ mental and physical health. But when the pandemic ends, will it be back to life as usual?
A used car superstore in Colma, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Electric cars get a lot of hype, but what really matters for the climate are excess emissions from the many millions of gasoline vehicles still sold each year.
Elderly users of public transit face complex challenges to their mobility.
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An increase in cyclists due to the COVID-19 pandemic means that cities need to look at what it means to develop and maintain inclusive bicycle infrastructure.
Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Founding Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis