The transportation sector is responsible for 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Latin America and the Caribbean
The changes in the use of transport as a result of COVID-19 and the recovery plans are an opportunity for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to accelerate the transition towards electric mobility, stated a new report from the United Nations Program for the Environment (PNUMA).
“If countries and companies know how to take advantage of the context, the transformations we are seeing today can open the way to fully sustainable mobility with a clean energy matrix,” Gustavo Máñez, regional coordinator of Climate Change at UNEP, said in this capital.
The fourth edition of the annual report “Electric Mobility: Advances in Latin America and the Caribbean” showed that the sector gains strength as users opt for cleaner means of transportation.
Also “to the extent that governments increase the ambition of their climate commitments and outline their policies to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement”, which seeks to curb global warming no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, relative to the pre-industrial era, by the year 2050.
The transport sector is responsible in the region for 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming, and is one of the main causes of air pollution.
According to the report, 27 of the 33 countries in the region have prioritized transport as a central element to achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement to reduce their emissions of these gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2).
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However, the countries of the region do not have short- and medium-term goals to end the sale of combustion vehicles, although in 2020 national efforts to formulate electric mobility strategies grew.
Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Paraguay are in the process of developing their plans. Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic have already published national policies.
Urban public transport continues to be a priority in the mobility plans of the region, which has the highest use of buses per capita and is one of the most urbanized in the world, since 80 percent of its inhabitants live in cities.
However, “2020 was a disruptive year in the use of transport,” according to Máñez, as the restrictions on mobility imposed by the pandemic transformed the use of some of the public transport systems.
This was due to the reduction in the number of passengers, since in parallel active mobility was promoted – walking more, using bicycles – as well as electric micromobility.
UNEP believes that as these restrictions begin to be relaxed and a moderate return to normalcy begins, it is crucial that public transport does not lose ground to private vehicles, according to the report.
The cities that stood out in Latin America for their greatest progress in terms of electrification of public transport buses in 2020 were Bogotá, with the acquisition of 406 units, and Mexico, which added 193 trolleybuses.
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* Cover photo: Transmilenio
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