Climate and Transportation Solutions: Findings from the 2009 Asilomar Conference on Transportation and Energy Policy

Climate and Transportation Solutions features the latest thinking from leaders and experts on transportation, energy and climate issues, bringing insights and recommendations from the 12th meeting of the renowned Asilomar Conference on Transportation and Energy Policy to a broad audience including researchers, policymakers, and students interested in the future of energy and transportation. Climate change is now widely recognized as the most critical environmental problem facing the planet. Transportation is a major cause of the problem, and it has a key role to play in its solution. This book addresses whether it is possible to reduce transport-related CO2 emissions by 50 to 80 percent by 2050, and how this might be accomplished. The UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies organized the July 2009 Asilomar Conference on behalf of the Energy, Alternative Fuels, and Sustainable Transportation committees of the U.S. Transportation Research Board, a research arm of the National Academies. This invitation-only, three-day event hosted 200 of the most sophisticated and knowledgeable experts and leaders on climate policy and transportation from five continents. The chapters of this book evolved from presentations and discussions at the conference. Strategies for reducing GHG emissions from the transportation sector can be categorized into three areas: improving the efficiency of the vehicles, reducing the carbon content in the fuel, and reducing vehicle use. This book addresses the effects of energy use in transportation on global GHG emissions and suggests new policies in each of these areas. The chapters examine climate change and transportation issues and strategies in specific regions of the world, address new policy approaches to reduce GHG emissions, and examine the potential role for new fuels and vehicle technologies in combating climate change.