ransport sector plays a crucial role in helping a country achieve economic development. A strong transport sector connects various parts of a city and country to one another and allows people to find jobs in areas that might not be close to where they live. A family where one of the members has a decent job has a high probability to avoid the vicious cycle of poverty.

Thus, a well-functioning public transport sector not only brings us closer to other people but also helps us dent the poverty curve. However, the transport sector has a dark side, too; it emits greenhouse gases.

These emissions increase the natural concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, causing our previously stable climate to change. Pakistan signed the Paris Climate Agreement on April 22, 2016, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate climate change. Bending the emissions curve for transport sector through electrification can help us achieve our goals for Paris Climate Agreement and limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The number of registered vehicles skyrocketed in Pakistan during second decade of 21st Century. A presentation titled Decarbonisation of Transport - Policies, Constraints and Solutions by Dr Syed M Hasan, said there were close to 10 million registered vehicles in Pakistan in 2011. A lion’s share of this was two-wheel motorcycles. In 2020, the number of registered vehicles had risen to over 30 million with over 20 million motorcycles. Thus, Pakistan experienced a three-fold increase in registered vehicles during 2011-2020.

We need to develop public policy to introduce and sell only electric motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks in Pakistan. We need to do this as quickly as possible to bend the emissions curve, to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to reduce the negative effects of climate change on Pakistan. Without this, it will be very difficult for Pakistan to reduce greenhouse gases emission in the transport sector as the number of fossil fuel-powered vehicles will keep increasing exponentially. Electrification of the transport sector in Pakistan is the only way forward. We should sell only electric vehicles in Pakistan from 2030 onwards.

To achieve the 100 percent electrification target in the transport sector, we need to establish a wide network of fast-charging stations across the length and breadth of Pakistan. This is the most important piece of the puzzle. It can either make or break the whole electrification movement in transport sector in Pakistan. We must ensure that these fast-charging stations have electricity 24/7 and are not affected by power cuts. It’s particularly crucial that these fast-charging stations are powered by renewable energy produced using solar, wind and hydropower technologies. Pakistan has ample renewable energy potential.

We need to develop public policy to introduce and sell only fully electric motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks in Pakistan. We need to do this as quickly as possible to bend the emissions curve.

According to the World Bank, if Pakistan deploys solar PV technology on just 0.071 percent of its area, it can meet its current electricity demand

It is equally crucial to use only renewable energy as only then can we bend the emissions curve and achieve the goals outlined in Paris Climate Agreement. If these fast-charging stations are powered by either fossil fuels than it will not do much good for the environment.

Finland is building an underground facility named Onkalo at a depth of 420 metres to store nuclear waste for at least 100,000 years. Its cost is estimated to be 3 billion euros. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are neither financially viable nor ecologically sustainable

Radio France Internationale has reported that the French parliament has made it mandatory for large car parks to install solar PV panels, so that the same space can be used for clean electricity generation. By doing so, France aims to boost the development of solar PV technology and to reduce its reliance on nuclear power. The National Assembly can pass a similar bill making it mandatory for large parking lots to install solar panels.

Al-Jazeera has reported that the Netherlands has constructed a solar road in the outskirts of Amsterdam that has produced enough electricity in the first six months to power a single-person household for a year. The National Assembly can pass another bill making it mandatory (where feasible) to construct solar roads across the length and breadth of Pakistan. We can also construct solar bicycle and pedestrian paths.

We must prepare our transport sector to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. We cannot afford to maintain the status-quo and must do all we can to enable a swift transition to electrification in transport sector. It is necessary to sell only electric vehicles in Pakistan from 2030 onwards. We have ample renewable energy potential to generate clean power to provide the needed electricity for transport sector. A full electrification of transport sector will quickly bend the emissions curve for Pakistan and facilitate us in achieving goals outlined in Paris Climate Agreement. The ideas discussed here are realistic and feasible.

The writer is a Stockholm-based policy analyst and the founder/ operations manager of Project Green Earth (www.projectge.org). He can be reached at aubhameedi@yahoo.com.