NATIONAL Transport Commission chief Nick Dimopoulos has warned that transport policies and practice contribute to, and are simultaneously threatened by, climate change.
In a presentation titled ‘Planning for environmentally-sustainable transport,’ Nick Dimopoulos warned that Australia’s transport infrastructure, including roads, rail, ports and bridges, are highly vulnerable to sea level rises, floods, coastal erosion and temperature extremes.
He said Australian Conservation Foundation research suggested that a two degree increase in global temperature would result in a 17% increase in road maintenance costs, running into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Dimopoulos also warned about the potential for Australia’s oil supplies to diminish in the near future.
He said the design of Australia’s transport infrastructure is based on the availability of cheap and plentiful fossil fuels.
However, Australia’s oil self-sufficiency is forecast to decline from 85% to 40% by 2020. Concurrently, national demand for oil is forecast to increase by 50% between 2000 and 2020.
Dimopoulos warned that without research and planning to support a distribution network for potential alternative fuels, such as hydrogen and electric powered vehicles, the Australian transport system could soon be running on empty.
He also said transport itself was part of the climate change problem and currently contributes around 14% of total emission, making the industry the fastest growing source of carbon emissions in Australia.
He warned the land transport task will almost double between 2000 and 2020, resulting in another 50,000 articulated trucks on Australian roads, generating more carbon emissions.
Transport will become its own worst enemy if it fails to play its role in addressing climate change, Dimopoulos warned.
The NTC chief called on governments to show leadership and investigate new ways of dealing with transport’s problems, including congestion charging and an end to greenfield development in outer-urban areas.
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