Sustainable transportation, it's putting an end to the old-fashioned engine

For over a hundred years they have been everywhere – on every road, in every country. But all of this is about to change.

More and more people are becoming aware of the climate emergency. We all know that we must reduce emissions quickly. And to do this, we will have to radically transform entire parts of the functioning of our societies and our economies.

We know that progress is too slow. But in many areas we are not progressing at all. Compared to 1990, transport emissions are 25% higher in Europe; 74% higher globally. Road transport is by far the largest source of emissions for this type of vehicle, about 70%.

Change occurs

But around the world, cities and governments are taking action against gasoline and diesel cars. That it is to introduce dates to eliminate the internal combustion engine at the national level, to restrict cars access to cities or to ban entire categories of cars within the city limits, attitudes evolve around the role of the car in everyday life. Greenpeace now has a map to track this progress worldwide, in one place. A map that details the phasing out dates of gasoline and diesel cars.

This list is not exhaustive. More cities and regions will be added to the list over time. It's a live website, tracking changes on the ground.

As more and more of us realize the climate emergency, we can expect more cities and countries to appear on this map. And it is essential that they do it. These cars, fueled by dirty fuels such as gasoline and diesel, emit gases that destroy the climate on every trip. And more and more, we are learning that they are also destroying our health.

Emissions from gasoline and diesel cars poison our lungs, hearts and kidneys. Research establishes a link between exhaust gas exposure and the increased risk of developing serious diseases such as lung cancer, asthma, bronchitis, heart disease and vascular accidents brain. Cars fueled by fossil fuels in cities are a public health risk of our nightmares. Recent research indicates that air pollution by road traffic can now kill more people than smoking.

We can avoid smoking. But how many of us could avoid the exhaust gases of cars by going to work or leaving the kids in school?

We must abolish polluting ICE cars for the health of our planet and ours.

We need all cities to compete to become cleaner and faster. We want people to use this card to push their elected representatives to go further, to pbad new laws banning gasoline and diesel cars and to hold decision-makers accountable.

Prohibiting gas and diesel cars is an essential step that cities and governments can take to radically improve the health of their citizens and reduce their carbon emissions. But this is not the complete picture. Making walking and cycling more attractive will help more people make the least polluting choice.

Likewise, a complete and affordable public transport system (powered by renewable energies) is essential to allow an increasing number of us to give up entirely the possession of a car. For journeys that still require a car, we can together move to shared ownership of smaller electric vehicles, ensuring that cars in use are used efficiently by those who need them.

We can not wait to act on the climate. We know we need to reduce transportation emissions. But as we think about how we do it, we also have time to rethink how cities work and to whom. We have the opportunity to make our cities more beautiful, more relaxing and, ultimately, better places to live. We have so much to gain by getting rid of fossil fuel cars and building cities around the people.

Andrew Tobert is a clean air activist with Greenpeace Belgium