Just days after I read about the European Parliament’s grand decision to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, my wife and I were soaking up the sun in southern Italy. In the bustling port city of Bari, the second-largest economic hub after Naples, our 14-year-old Fiat was the newest car in the lot. I couldn’t help but wonder if those illustrious decision-makers had ever left their ivory towers to witness the reality they’re so keen to overhaul.
Italy is the third-largest economic power in Europe. We traveled through most regions and while the south is less developed, the north does not lag behind in the number of tightly packed vehicles. Just imagine the owners attempting to charge their electric cars on narrow streets in ten years. Now that’s a comedy sketch in the making.
The bureaucrats want to ban petrol and diesel vehicles all over Europe to chase their net-zero emissions pipe dream. This is absurd as banning pizza because one in five hundred people might have a tomato intolerance. It’s also a significant hit to the automotive industry in Europe which supports around 14 million jobs.
A look at the global numbers
Transport accounts for 16% of CO2 emissions worldwide, including air, sea, rail, and freight. Road transport is roughly 12% of this total with personal vehicles making up 39% of road transport emissions, contributing just 5% of overall CO2 emissions to the Earth’s atmosphere. Let’s dive a bit deeper into the numbers:
Source: Statista, ourworldindata.org
A fraction of the total impact
Europe has around 250 million cars, making up less than one-fifth of the world’s total (1,47 billion) and contributing approx. 1% of total emissions – likely even less due to decades of strict environmental standards and ongoing efforts to downsize engines and enhance fuel efficiency, which have forced buyers to spend more money and give up quite a few pizzas. This data is available to everyone and I found it while my pizza was baking in an electric oven that’s only as green as the energy source powering it.
Ever wondering what is the largest contributor to global CO2 emissions? Photo: Freepik (license acquired).European cars contribute way lass than 1% of CO2 emissions.
The carbon footprint of energy production
Energy production is the real CO2 villain, responsible for a staggering 42% of emissions; an amount that would vanish by using green energy. Until then, electric vehicles won’t exactly be winning any environmental awards anytime soon. I remember a trip to Poland, where 80% of energy still comes from fossil fuels. We made it to Gdansk in one day, but despite our quick stops, we arrived smelling like two overcooked hams with a yellowish haze trailing us the whole way.
Overlooked environmental costs
Current assessments overlook the environmental impact of battery production and recycling and the practical lifespan of these batteries. If each damaged battery (due to malfunction or accident) requires 3-5 years for environmental payback period, this significantly alters the overall assessments. Moreover, there is a lack of data on CO2 emissions from waste materials of renewable energy sources (such as solar panels and wind turbines) and the future CO2 costs of constructing charging infrastructure, which will inevitably rely on diesel-powered construction machinery.
I wonder how this road trip through the entire coast of France and back to Italy would pan out in an electric vehicle.The food industry guzzles the most potable water and hogs the most fertile land on the planet, all while contributing around 20% of CO2 emissions.
Particulate matter matters
The most ardent advocates of electrification will sooner or later present data on diseases and deaths caused by particulate matter. Numerous studies confirm this, but it is crucial to emphasize that particulate matter is primarily a consequence of residential heating. Some of these studies have noted significant improvements in reducing heavy transport traffic but not personal traffic. In the UK, transport is at the bottom of the list for PM particles. Globally, transport contributes 25% of all particulate matter (with heating at 22%), but this figure includes all forms of transport (freight, air, sea), and is heavily influenced by developing countries such as India, Nepal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
Rethinking radical measures
One must question the rationale behind such a sudden and radical shift. If environmental concerns were truly the priority, the logical first step would be to address fossil dependancy of energy production. The food industry also warrants scrutiny, as it accounts for a significant portion of CO2 emissions and is the largest consumer of both drinking water and agricultural land globally. Furthermore, if health were genuinely the concern, it is noteworthy that 2.4 billion people rely on fossil fuels for cooking, a practice the WHO links to 3.2 million deaths annually, including 237,000 children under the age of five.
In the developed world residential heating still produces more particulate matter than personal transportation. Photo: Freepik (license acquired).Prioritizing practical solutions
We cannot afford to ignore the need for CO2 reduction measures. Every day, our planet loses green spaces and gains more greenhouse gases. It would be more effective to focus on greening urban areas, further restricting city traffic, improving public transportation, actively supporting remote work, expanding existing roads (as CO2 emissions are significantly higher during starts and stops), optimizing financial incentives for energy renovations and investing in both existing and innovative non-fossil energy production methods. Promoting healthy eating should also be a priority. Electrification should be left to the free market. Those who can make it work—of which there are many—will choose the most effective option based on their own preferences.
Electric vehicles will hit citizens hard in the wallet, leaving them shivering in their drafty homes while members of the EU Parliament, who use personal jets for short trips and scold them for using hot water.
Sources and useful links:
- https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food#:~:text=used%20for%20agriculture.-,Food%20is%20responsible%20for%20one%2Dquarter%20of%20the%20world’s%20emissions,transport%2C%20packaging%2C%20and%20retail
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health
- https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
- http://www.arso.gov.si/zrak/kakovost%20zraka/poro%C4%8Dila%20in%20publikacije/Porocilo_2016.pdf
- https://www.odyssee-mure.eu/publications/efficiency-by-sector/transport/distance-travelled-by-car.html
- https://www.nowtricity.com/
- https://info.jato.com/hubfs/Affordable-EVs-and-Mass-Adoption-The-Industry-Challenge.pdf
