Emissions in the transport sector are an increasingly important issue in global energy systems. This includes both greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants (including oxides of nitrogen (NOx) oxides of sulphur (SOx) and particulate matter (PM).

However, the progress on reducing greenhouse emissions from transport has been relatively slow, with emissions from shipping proving to be particularly challenging. Local air pollutants from vehicles, such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulates, are also a growing concern for human health.

Natural gas has been suggested as an alternative transport fuel to help combat these emissions, particularly in shipping and goods transportation due to the range requirements in these vehicle types. However, there is some disagreement as to the potential for natural gas to provide significant improvements over emissions emerging from the current transport system.

White Paper 4 explores the emissions of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants arising in both heavy goods vehicles and shipping, and has accessed the scope for natural gas to reduce these emissions from current levels.

Dissemination 

Please cite the paper as: Speirs J., Balcombe P., Blomerus P., Stettler M., Brandon N., and Hawkes A. Can natural gas reduce emissions from transport? Heavy goods vehicles and shipping; Sustainable Gas Institute, Imperial College London. January 2019