In their article also published in this issue, Dominique Auverlot and Alain Sauvant present the foresight exercise carried out by France Stratégie and the French General Inspection for the Environment and Sustainable Development (Inspection générale de l’environnement et du développement durable; CGEDD) on transport and mobility up to the years 2040 and 2060, with a view to meeting the carbon neutrality target that France has set for itself. To round off that presentation and give a concrete example of the arrangements that might foster this transition toward carbon neutrality, they propose here a focussed study of the technologies to be brought to bear on decarbonizing transport.
Transport is the main greenhouse-gas emitting sector in France today (30% of emissions); it therefore represents a key stage in ecological transition. In this article, Auverlot and Sauvant present the technological options available for decarbonizing transport, beginning with the conversion of road transport vehicles to new (electrical, hybrid, hydrogen, biofuel or other) forms of energy. As they see it, there is no alternative for a strategy that aims to achieve carbon neutrality. With air transport, they see no option but to invest in research, favouring conversion to biofuels. Lastly, in maritime transport, the third branch of the sector, it is time to experiment, as this article shows, with two promising technologies: using liquid natural gas with CO2 capture, and electricity for short journeys. In the end, if technology alone cannot solve all the emission problems created by transport, it is nonetheless one of the main levers to be used, alongside incentivizing self-restraint. The authorities must therefore take it into account in the political and economic incentives they set in place to implement their low-carbon strategy.
