Frederick Obeng Adom
Deputy Minister of Transport, Frederick Obeng Adom, has announced the introduction of battery-electric and gas powered buses into the public transport system.
The initiative forms part of interventions aimed at the gradual reduction in carbon emission by the road transport sector.
“These interventions would serve as an important leverage that would set the tone for the gradual decarbonisation of the road transport industry,” the minister said at a regional stakeholders meeting on the national energy transition plan at Techiman in Bono East.
He said the government was in the process of developing an E-Mobility Policy to guide the deployment and scaling-up of electric vehicles in the country.
“In respect of the Road Transport Services, our focus is mainly on technological shift away from petrol and diesel fuels to a more benign alternative,” he stressed.
In Ghana, carbon emissions, as a result of fuel combustion by transport vehicle, constitute about 55.4per cent per annum, as a result, the introduction of electric vehicles would help deal with emissions in the country
Majority of Ghanaians depend on the use of small to medium sized vehicles powered by either petrol or diesel engines. Data available at the DVLA shows that out of the 2.8 million registered vehicles as at 2021, 72 per cent are powered by petrol engines, 27 per cent by diesel engines, and less than one (1) per cent by LPG and other energy sources.
“The result of this high dependency on fossil fuels coupled with a number of factors including traffic congestion has made the transport sector, a net emitter of Greenhouse Gases (GHG),” Mr. Adom emphasised.
According to the deputy minister, reducing carbon emissions alone was not sufficient in the attainment of the United Nations 1.5 temperature.
“We need to go one step further in order to halt the climate emergency. Achieving a Net Zero Future requires coordinated approach touching on many aspects of our national economy,” he said.
A Business Desk Report