Despite decades of focus on energy efficiency and technical solutions for vehicles and fuels, the transport sector is a large and growing contributor to the climate crisis alongside other serious environmental consequences attributed to the combustion of fossil fuel. Vehicle efficiency improvements have failed to outpace the demand for the distance travelled and have therefore failed to result in absolute reductions in energy used. This chapter takes stock at this pivotal point among a constellation of so-called transport ‘revolutions’ and ponders the need to reframe the core concept of ‘energy efficiency’ if it is to be a useful focal point for sustainable action in this sector. The core contention is that the goal of energy efficiency has become so embedded in the discourses attached to low carbon transport that it has crowded out discussion of any unintended consequences or, most importantly, where we want the taken-for granted efficient and decarbonised pathways to ultimately lead. An alternative framework is proposed which opens the debate around whether levels of mobility demand are themselves unsustainable and consistent and meaningful efforts to manage demand based on notions of ‘sufficiency’ might be a more effective and potentially equitable route to lower energy demand.
Energy Demand Reduction (EDR) refers to lowering the amount of energy required to provide energy services across mobility, shelter, nutrition or the production of goods and services, among others, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, global studies have attempted to understand the contribution EDR could make to climate mitigation efforts. Whilst these studies are important to build a global picture, climate targets and policy are necessarily devised at the national level. To address this disconnect, we develop a bottom-up, whole system framework that comprehensively estimates the potential for energy demand reduction at a country level. Replicable for other countries, our framework is applied to the case of the UK where we find that reductions in energy demand of 52% by 2050 compared with 2020 levels are possible without compromising on citizens’ quality of life. This translates to annual energy demands of 40GJ per person, compared to the current OECD average of 55GJ. Our findings show that EDR can reduce reliance on high-risk carbon dioxide removals, moderate investment requirements, and allow space for ratcheting up climate ambition. We conclude that national climate policy should increasingly develop and integrate EDR measures to both articulate national ambition and feeding into international pledges through Nationally Determined Contributions.
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