Alternative Fuels: A Solution to Transport Decarbonization or Not?

摘要

Feedstock really is the critical answer to whether a certain alternative fuel is the solution to transport decarbonization. Biomass- based fuels made from food or feed crops are no better than fossil petroleum due to indirect land use change impacts; wastes and cellulosic biomass offer good climate performance but need to be scaled up; fossil natural gas provides no climate benefit especially in the near term; electricity and hydrogen from renewable sources could offer deep carbon savings. Yet, fuel switching progress in the transportation sector so far has been mainly from biofuels produced from food or feed crops. The development and deployment of genuine low-carbon fuels is still in its infancy. To ramp up, policies, especially supportive financing schemes, are needed immediately to support the scale up of advanced fuel conversion processes that can utilize the most sustainable feedstocks. Ultimately, a mixed effort of energy efficiency and varied low-carbon fuels is necessary to reach transport decarbonization.