UPM Focuses on Wood-based Solutions for Sustainable Transport
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Renewable biofuels and plywood offer solid solutions for green transport – without requiring costly investment in new cars or fuel distribution systems.
The challenges presented by climate change are a source of deep concern and fierce debate across the globe. The need for decisive action is glaringly visible especially in transport, which is currently a main source of carbon dioxide emissions.
In Finland, one fifth of carbon dioxide emissions derive from the transportation sector, 90% of which are caused by road traffic. The Nordic country aims to halve transport greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.
The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has calculated that this goal could be achieved if 30% of all transport fuel were renewable biofuel, and if fossil-based vehicles were to be replaced by 250,000 electric cars and 50,000 biogas cars.
According to Nils-Olof Nylund, VTT Senior Advisor specialising in engines, renewable biofuels play a key role in reducing the transport sector’s emissions.
“Pitting electric cars against biofuels is counter-productive, because both are needed. Significant emission reductions can be obtained with renewable fuels, where Finland is at the forefront. Drop-in biofuels, which require no changes to current fuel distribution systems and vehicles, have the advantage,” Nylund says.
