CleanTechnica (Op-ed): US Should Be More Transparent About Our Transportation Emissions — Our Health & Climate Depend On It

"Our country is reeling yet again from another season of climate-charged extreme weather events, leaving Americans wondering if our towns, cities and states can meet these more frequent and severe tests. Unfortunately, science and evidence from recent years signals that more of these storms, severe drought, and climate-fueled fires will be a very real part of our future. Even though we cannot control that reality, we can make decisions today that will improve our infrastructure and climate resilience of tomorrow.

"Right now, the Biden administration has two weeks left to hear from Americans on a proposal that would require states, cities and towns to track and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are a direct result of highway activity. While this is a critical next step to ensure that transportation sector emissions are truly reduced, the proposal should go further towards incentivizing local governments to share that transportation emissions data with the public.

"Making this data easily accessible — allowing the public to see how their states and localities are doing in slashing emissions from the transportation sector, which is the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions — will be a critical part of holding decision makers accountable. It will allow us to track our tax dollars at work, from improving our existing infrastructure to investing in projects that will reduce overall emissions.

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"The stakes could not be higher in the emissions-intensive transportation sector. Recent analysis shows that the investments from the bipartisan infrastructure funding package could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions over ten years, depending on how the funds are spent.

"For instance, if most of the federal funding goes to adding new lanes to highways, research from Georgetown Climate Center suggests that total vehicle emissions would go up, and there would be little to no benefit toward reducing car traffic and congestion. If that same money, however, is invested in cleaner, more efficient transit infrastructure projects like rail, bikeways and EV charging stations, it would result in an overall reduction in vehicle pollution while also creating a more reliable transportation system for Americans. University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability research shows that a 39% reduction in transportation emissions is possible by 2030 if the right projects are prioritized."

Read the full op-ed by Jesse Prentice-Dunn in CleanTechnica.