Climate Change and the Transport Sector: A UK Report

This report examines the significant impact of the transport sector on climate change, focusing on the United Kingdom. It investigates the link between transport, carbon emissions, and global warming, utilizing a questionnaire survey of 30 UK respondents to gauge public perception. The findings reveal that a majority of respondents (over 50%) recognize transport's impact on climate change, while a smaller percentage acknowledge the role of climate change on the transport system. The report delves into the methodology, presenting results through charts and statistical analysis. It further discusses the findings, drawing conclusions about the environmental effects and offering recommendations for mitigation strategies, including the use of carbon tax and alternative fuel technologies. The study highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to address the environmental consequences of transport, emphasizing the importance of sustainable practices and policy interventions.

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Report Cover Page
TRANSPORT AND IMPACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Author’s name
Date submitted
ASHE Tutor
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Table of Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................4
2. Methodology.................................................................................................................................6
3. Results...........................................................................................................................................7
Result 1..............................................................................................................................................7
Result 2..............................................................................................................................................7
Result 3..............................................................................................................................................7
4. Discussion and Conclusions..........................................................................................................8
5. Recommendations.........................................................................................................................9
6. References...................................................................................................................................10
7. Appendices..................................................................................................................................12
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Abstract
The research paper talks about the impact of transport system created on the climate
change. The harmful impact of transport in the form of increased carbon emissions which
are giving rise to the global warming and the greenhouse emissions levels on the global
climate. The paper takes into consideration the transport system of United Kingdom
through questionnaire survey of 30 respondents about their views on the research
problem. It is been found that more than 50% agreed that transport has impact climate
change. The opposite effect in transport system due to climate change for mitigation of
pollution levels have been agreed by 35% of the respondents while others feel the
political system is taking few measures to control it for the high economic costs.
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1. Introduction
The research aims to discuss the impact the climate change has gone through by the
transport sector. The research stresses the fact that two variables climate and transport are
connected to each other. The transport sector is the independent variable while the dependent
variable is the climate. The transport sector has been estimated to be the sector which has
faced major carbon emissions for the last 10 years. It is the most vulnerable sector to
pollution and creating an impact on the climate change. The transport sector in the present
generation has contributed more than 23 percent of overall greenhouse gas emissions in the
energy consumption throughout the world which has given rise to 18 percent of artificially
created global economy emissions. Right from the year 2012, the transport sector has been
the highest energy consuming field in an average of 40% of countries (Huizenga, General and
Peet 2017). The research focuses on the impact that the transport has created on the climate
and the changes occurred in it due to the impact done by transport, especially the road
transport. The effect on the environmental climate is talked about in detail in the research
paper.
The anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are mainly from the carbon emission
producing vehicles in the automobile sector which raise the global warming rate all over the
world. The transport sector is expected to double its emissions by 2050 in twice the rate it is
presently. However, the cheap mobility of labour is a prime concern. Due to which much of
the transport sector is under pollution due to corrupted environmental policy frameworks.
The annual carbon dioxide emissions from all these transportation had already reached into
more than two billion metric tons which was reported in 2007 – this is the highest level ever
since the Environmental Impact Assessment has begun by keeping records in 1973. The
changes in atmosphere due to the ozone depletion ranging from these pollutants create an
impact in the stratosphere and troposphere layer. The ozone hit the layers in the mid of the
latitudes. By 2012, it is now about four years after into the recession, all these emissions had
fallen to about more than the 1.8 billion metric tons. However with the economic recovery of
all the recession damage, the carbon emissions has begun to rise somehow again. On 2018,
the transportation emissions are estimated to be in average 1.9 billion metric tons as for the
year – with just under the year 2012 peak. Although there is the rise of electric car
manufacturers like Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Renault and other companies, but the new
public transportation projects operating in cities all across the nation, and the more fuel
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efficient produced aircraft engines with many innovations in mobility, it has been assumed
that economics of nation is the actual main driver of all these production of carbon emissions
from transportation with low conservation policies. The carbon emissions mainly come from
the harmful chemicals producing racing cars and the public transport buses with high
combustion fuels. The carbon tax can be used as the effective policy for making production
and low-carbon automobiles in the urban transport. The technology mixture to provide this
manufacturing operations are very high, thus the citizens are motivated to adopt such
transport modes which are in low cost and are used by biomass fuel, electricity and run in gas
(Zhang, Fujimori and Hanaoka 2018). The high demand for use of mobility is growing at a
rapid scale in developing cities. The policy goals about the climate change and the
transportation in the respective economy are covered with may corrupted practices leading to
trade pressure from lobby groups, there are no proper monitoring tools with carbon emission
targets (Gossling, Cohen and Hares 2016).
The research paper will discuss how the climate changes and transport sector are
together creating an impact on the United Kingdom in the environment. This is followed by
the survey data collected from the UK citizens to gather the evidence of impact caused and
the look into present scenario. The necessary recommendations are provided to mitigate the
impact on climate change.
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2. Methodology
The research methodology used is the questionnaire format of survey to the citizens of
United Kingdom. The survey has been done through using probability sampling method. In
the probability sampling method, the random sampling method has been done. The
population of the survey was within the United Kingdom sampling boundary. The responses
total collected were thirty. The responses are collected through survey forms made in Google
Docs. The data presentation has been provided through pie charts and bar charts. The
questionnaire method has been divided into Likert type scales with enumerated ratings.
The type of data analysis done is the both qualitative and quantitative. In the
quantitative data analysis, the questionnaire data has been analysed and the results are
provided after calculating the mean, median and mode with the standard deviation. The
qualitative data analysis is through the interview details which are not in numerated ratings.
There are some open-ended questions which require the observation and the collection of
observed data through the depth-interview technique into the report through content analysis
and the variables taken into account to calculate the frequency of such answers.
The United Kingdom is chosen as the sampling boundary as it is one of the top
affected countries facing environmental degration due to climate change. The transport sector
especially the automobile sector in UK is reported to produce more carbon emissions. The
sample size is mostly from the known sources of contacts. The Google Docs survey form is
used to gain a wide perspective and with easy availability to the respondents. The traditional
way of face-to-face survey is not performed to bring clarity and personal comfort to the
respondent. The questionnaire contains close ended questions with options for respondent to
choose the answer. The demographic background is selected on the basis of educated middle
and high income class. The salaried service people along with private business owners are
selected for the sample study. The respondents are selected on the basis of their access to
road transport. Majority of the respondents have the personal cars as their transportation
medium.
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3. Results
Result 1
The first result shows 57% of respondents has stated the fact that transport system
affect the climate change while 43% of respondents stated that transport play no role in
climate change. The transport sector especially in the automobile sector it has hugely created
a change in climate through the emissions of carbon and combustion fuels in the air. The
urban passengers riding four wheelers and the distance of travelling is increasing with more
pollution and the congestion in the semi urban as well as urban regions of nations (Huizenga,
Peet and Gota 2016). The greenhouse gas emissions are mostly produced from here. The
circulation of polluted air travels to the higher levels of atmosphere which increase the global
warming ratio leading to ozone hole in the upper troposphere. (Doherty et.al, 2017).
Result 2
The second result indicates that 36% of respondents has stated the fact strongly that
transport system has been changed. 40% of respondents just agree to the fact that it has been
changed but not so much. The rest 24% disagree that transport system has been changed.
Most of the respondents have agreed that transportation has been changed due to the impact
being caused to the climate through air pollution. The respondents now feel comfortable to
travel using public transport or through multiple modes rather by car, thus reducing the
increased automobile pollution in the cities for large distance travel with health issues (Olsen,
Macdonald and Ellaway 2017). The other portion of respondents feel that the transport has
not changed due to excess reliance on technology to cover the carbon emission which has
produced an opposite effect on the transport sector. There is found lack of political leadership
in terms of taking strict control measure for conserving natural resources and reducing the
pollution from the automobiles.
Result 3
The third result indicates that 23% of resondents feel that climate change has affected
UK at a high rate. 36% of respondednts feel that climate change has affected UK on a
moderate basis. The other 23% feel that climate change has not affected UK that much, but it
did product some harmful effects.13% of respondents feel that climate has not produced any
significant effect on UK. 3% of respondents feel that climate do not play any role in affecting
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UK, there are other factors. This result can be related with the other two results, where 59%
of respondents totally agree that climate change has affected UK. The change is not
specifically in transport system but it can be in other industries or sectors. The change can be
natural disaster, or natural occurrence like acid rain. However, transport sector is a part of
climate change. While 36% of respondents feel that climate does not play the crucial role in
bringing any impact on UK. This is due to the efficiency control techniques, climate policies
and the urgent actions taken by meterological organizations. The political framework of the
nations are currently considering the measure to reduce the pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions by implementation charges and legal provisions (Jochem, Rothengatter and Schade
2016).
4. Discussion and Conclusions
The responses taken are grouped into 63.3% female and the 36.7% male sample
respondents. Out of those respondents, 33.3% are employed in as service while the other
33.3% are private businesspeople. According to the data, the climate change over the world
for 50 years has been agreed by 51.7%, not agreed by 10.3% and other unsure about it are
37.9%. As per the results, the response states that 36.7% people agree that United Kingdom
has been affected by the climate change. 23.3% people strongly agree to this, while 13.3%
people disagree to this and the 23.3% others are not sure about it. The responses has also
been collected through questions like whether the transport system is affected by such climate
change. 58.6% agree to this while the rest 41.4% disagree to it. The next responses collected
are the estimation of whether the transport system has seen any change in the United
Kingdom after such devastated climate changes. The responses recorded are half of the
respondents think that it has been modulated, while 30% strongly carry the pinion that it has
been done and the other 20%.
It can be stated from the findings of the survey that majority of the respondents feel
that United Kingdom has undergone changes in the form of producing electronic technology
and use of less carbon fuel manufacturing in the automobile companies. The climate change
has created impact on the country through the air pollution and the harmful air borne disease
like bronchitis, asthma and attacking the lungs of old and young generations mostly. Most of
the respondents who have taken the survey have used the automobiles like private cars and
bikes sometimes as their transport medium. The country being manufacturing high speed
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racing cars with huge carbon emissions made significant impact on the climate change
through global warming and increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The transport and the
climate being the two important variables are interconnected. The change in climate brought
by transport system has created an impact in the transport system too. The transport
infrastructure and the sector has been undergone modulations in terms of more strict
regulations on fuel combustion levels and the increased availability of public transport by
increasing the multi-mode transport channels in the country to reduce pollution levels and the
climate change.
The limitations of the study are:
a. The sampling size takes into consideration those who have access to private
automobile transport
b. The survey is done online through Google docs due to which the reliability of data
may not be accurate
c. The primary data collected are limited to 30 sample size within the close contact
d. The interview has open ended questions which gave qualitative data. However, the
quantitative data is more focused on for validity purposes.
e. The research is limited to how transport sector has made an impact on the climate.
The road transport is taken as one specific mode of transport to be discussed.
5. Recommendations
a. The only possible way to reduce the climate change from transport sector especially
from the automobile industries are to lessen the company benefits on the ownership of
car. The more benefits and product guarantees the cars provide, the higher are chances of
pollution through gas emissions and burning of fossil fuels (Metzler, Humpe and
Gossling 2019).
b. Strict actions to be taken as per the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions.
c. The carbon trading is also seen as a good practice of sharing the price of carbon
emissions.
d. The targets of company as per the environmental sustainability are to meet with the
sustainability goals set by the national bodies.
e. Very low carbon technologies are required now to decrease the emissions already
produced by the automobile sector.
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6. References
Doherty, R.M., Orbe, C., Zeng, G., Plummer, D.A., Prather, M.J., Wild, O., Lin, M.,
Shindell, D.T. and Mackenzie, I.A., 2017. Multi-model impacts of climate change on
pollution transport from global emission source regions. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics,
17(23), pp.14219-14237.
Gössling, S., Cohen, S.A. and Hares, A., 2016. Inside the black box: EU policy officers'
perspectives on transport and climate change mitigation. Journal of Transport Geography, 57,
pp.83-93.
Huizenga, C., General, S. and Peet, K., 2017. Transport and climate change: how nationally
determined contributions can accelerate transport decarbonization. Retrieved from. NDC
Partnership
Huizenga, C., Peet, K. and Gota, S., 2016. Urban Transport and Climate Change. In State of
the World (pp. 195-210). Island Press, Washington, DC.
Jochem, P., Rothengatter, W. and Schade, W., 2016. Climate change and transport.
Zhang, R., Fujimori, S., Dai, H. and Hanaoka, T., 2018. Contribution of the transport sector
to climate change mitigation: insights from a global passenger transport model coupled with a
computable general equilibrium model. Applied energy, 211, pp.76-88.
Metzler, D., Humpe, A. and Gössling, S., 2019. Is it time to abolish company car benefits?
An analysis of transport behaviour in Germany and implications for climate change. Climate
policy, 19(5), pp.542-555.
Olsen, J.R., Macdonald, L. and Ellaway, A., 2017. Changes over time in population level
transport satisfaction and mode of travel: A 13 year repeat cross-sectional study, UK. Journal
of transport & health, 6, pp.366-378.
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7. Appendices
Questionnaire
1) Gender
Male
Female
Others
2) Age
21- 40 years
41 – 60 years
61years and above
3) Profession
Employed in a service
Business person
Others
4). Do you think the climate of the world has changed over the past fifty years?
1) Yes 2) Not sure 3) No it hasn’t changed
5) Do you think the country of the United Kingdom is affected by such climate change?
1: Strongly agree 2: Agree 3: Neutral 4: Disagree 5: Strongly Disagree
6) Do you think the transport system is affected by such a change in the climate?
1) Yes 2) No
7) Do you think the transport system within the United Kingdom has changed as a
result of such a climate change?
1: Strongly agree 2: Agree 3: Neutral 4: Disagree 5: Strongly Disagree
8) Do you think climate change has affected the transport system of the United
Kingdom?
1) Yes 2) No
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