Emerging technologies and policies for carbon–neutral transportation

Abstract

Many countries and regions across the world have been actively implementing their commitments to achieve carbon neutrality in response to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (United Nations, 2021). This paper highlights some evolutions and revolutions currently experienced by the transportation industry in different contexts with respect to some common carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability goals. The evolutionary and revolutionary changes are powered by the adoption and implementation of emerging technologies and policies on three aspects: Low-carbon transportation infrastructure, transportation electrification and decarbonization, and intelligent transportation systems management. It is hoped that the experience and lessens we learned from these accumulative and adaptive practices can help us more precisely select and adjust the technological and policy pathways for achieving carbon–neutral transportation.

Keywords

• Carbon neutrality
• Transportation sustainability
• Low-carbon transportation infrastructure
• Transportation electrification and decarbonization
• Transportation systems management