Transport is the second biggest cause of harmful greenhouse gases in South Africa and, with more and more vehicles on the road, its contribution to climate change is increasing, according to Jeremy Cronin, the deputy transport minister.
“There are some 10-million vehicles on our roads and the number is increasing every year,” he said. “Transport is responsible for 12% of the country’s carbon emissions, second only to the energy sector at 16%, and it is the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gases.”
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian this week, he said transport was also responsible for guzzling more than 25% of the country’s energy resources — and road transport accounted for 84% of its energy use. Research showed that at least 26% of households had access to a car and that the entry level started at a relatively low monthly income of R3Â 000.
But it would take more than asking people to avoid using cars or making unnecessary trips to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions, he said. “Focusing on transport alone is not going to solve high carbon emissions. Factors such as developing compact, sustainable cities and promoting residence and workplace proximity will play a key role.”
Urban sprawl, dormitory townships and RDP settlements added to the distance people travelled. “Post-apartheid planning has continued the migrant-labour trend.”
He pointed out that the average public-transport trip of a Tshwane resident was 25.4km. In Moscow it was 7.7km and in London 8.6km.
“Our public-transport system is unsustainable and fuel-inefficient. It has resulted in highly congested road traffic that spews out large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly at peak times.”
Cronin will chair a session on transport and climate change at the annual Southern Africa Transport Conference at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria in mid-July.
Pauline Froschauer, a member of the organising committee, said the session aimed to get to grips with solutions by advocating an “avoid, shift and improve” approach — avoiding unnecessary travel, shifting to low-carbon, non-motorised and public transport, and improving motorised transport to reduce emissions.
Cronin said the solutions included boosting investment in rail freight and low-carbon public transport. “About 65% of public passengers use minibuses but they are not fuel-efficient.”
There had been very little capital investment in rail transport since the mid-1980s and roads had gobbled up the lion’s share of the market. “The transport department has now undertaken an 18-year recapitalisation programme for rail,” he said. “It may be late but it is imperative.”
Another key intervention would be to devolve responsibility for city-based public transport such as passenger rail and buses to metropolitan level. Currently this responsibility was shared at national and provincial levels.
“We plan to shift the regulatory functions and subsidies to cities so that they can plan for these services. Unless we sort this out, we will continue to be wasteful emitters.”
Better land-use planning and management at municipal level needed to focus on moving work opportunities and resources closer to where people lived.
“The department of co-operative governance recently credited six municipalities with land planning, and the new Land Use Management Bill seems to get to grips with urban sprawl,” he said.
More attention had to be paid to localising markets to cut down on long road freight trips. “Up to 95% of our exports are over long distances and our economic heartland in Gauteng is distant from our ports. We need to cut down on the carbon footprint of freight logistics.”
All these steps were necessary to reduce not only the threats of climate change but also dwindling global oil resources, he said. “We need to push alternative fuel sources such as biofuels and new-generation vehicles such as electric cars.”
This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial.