The transport sector as a source of air pollution

Abstract

Transport first became a significant source of air pollution after the problems of sooty smog from coal combustion had largely been solved in western European and North American cities. Since then, emissions from road, air, rail and water transport have been partly responsible for acid deposition, stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change. Most recently, road traffic exhaust emissions have been the cause of much concern about the effects of urban air quality on human health and tropospheric ozone production. This article considers the variety of transport impacts on the atmospheric environment by reviewing three examples: urban road traffic and human health, aircraft emissions and global atmospheric change, and the contribution of sulphur emissions from ships to acid deposition. Each example has associated with it a different level of uncertainty, such that a variety of policy responses to the problems are appropriate, from adaptation through precautionary emissions abatement to cost-benefit analysis and optimised abatement. There is some evidence that the current concern over the transport contribution to urban air quality is justified, but aircraft emissions should also give cause for concern given that air traffic is projected to continue to increase. Emissions from road traffic are being reduced substantially by the introduction of technology especially three-way catalysts and also, most recently, by local traffic reduction measures especially in western European cities. In developing countries and Eastern Europe, however, there remains the possibility of great increase in car ownership and use, and it remains to be seen whether these countries will adopt measures now to prevent transport-related air pollution problems becoming severe later in the 21 st century.Key words: Vehicle emissions, Aerosol urban, Health impact, Ship emissions, Aircraft emissions 1 Introduction Transport is widely recognised to be a significant and increasing source of air pollution world wide. Several previous reviews have focused on individual modes of transport and/or single environmental impacts of transport. For example, OECD (1988) briefly considers regional and global impacts of transport emissions of air pollution, but is mostly concerned with the impact of emissions on local urban air quality, and considers only road transport. The Third International Symposium on Transport and Air Pollution (Joumard, 1996) also has an emphasis on road traffic and urban air quality, but the Special Edition of Science of the Total Environment presenting highlights of the symposium also includes a few papers covering air and sea transport. Joumard comments on the value of the contributions from developing countries including Africa and Latin America; a review of road transport emissions and their impact on the environment at all scales from local to global was also published a couple of years earlier by Faiz (1993). One of the most comprehensive recent reviews of the environmental impacts of transport is that of the Royal Commi...

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