Zero Emissions Day: Ways to decrease emissions from traffic

Zero Emissions Day has been designed to give the world a break from fossil fuels and to raise awareness about the harm caused by carbon emissions. The goal is to engage people towards more climate-friendly choices in their personal life. Zero Emissions Day was launched in Canada in 2008.

This year Zero Emissions Day takes place on September 21. Ensto participates in the Zero Emissions Day campaign organized by the Climate Leadership Coalition. We have chosen to campaign for sustainable transportation by sharing information.

Transportation plays an important role

Transport represents around 14 % of world's greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities. Within this sector, road transport is by far the biggest emitter of all GHG emissions from transport. Passenger travel is responsible for 60% of CO2 emissions from transportation, with freight accounting for the other 40%.

Based on current policies, it is estimated that global emissions from transportation will rise by 60% between 2015 and 2050. However, emissions from freight would need to decrease by 45% and emissions from passenger travel by 70% if the Paris Agreement objectives are to be met.

Ways to decrease emissions from traffic

Electric mobility is perhaps the most promising solution to decrease the emissions of transportation. Electric vehicles are rapidly gaining in popularity and they accounted for 1% of all vehicles worldwide as of 2019 (2.6% of global car sales). In line with the Paris Agreement climate scenario, this figure would need to rise to 15% by 2030.

An obvious way to decrease the emissions of transportation is to avoid journeys where possible. Traveling can be avoided for example, by densifying urban landscapes, sourcing localized products, internet shopping and utilizing ICT for Live meetings and distance working.

Another good way to decrease emissions is the shift to lower-carbon transport systems. This means using public transportation, walking, cycling and ridesharing. The choice of transportation has a lot of impact on the generation of CO2 emissions.

Ensto's car policy

Through our global car policy, we want actively to reduce the CO2 emission of our business car fleet and increase the share of electric vehicles. We lease as environmentally friendly cars as possible. We favor electric and hybrid cars, having benefits especially driving in a city. We recommend changing over to the cars with smaller engines when ordering new company cars.

The value of the car benefit e.g. in Finland is calculated based on the CO2 emissions of the car. This has encouraged many of our employees to choose electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. At Ensto, the average CO2 emissions of the company cars was 76 g/km in Finland in 2019.

While the number of EV’s is increasing, the need to charge the batteries of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on Ensto premises arises as well. The charging is easily achieved as Ensto has a wide range of EV charging devices in its own offering and installed on Ensto premises. For example, Ensto headquarters’ parking place in Porvoo is one of the biggest EV charging points in Finland with over 35 charging points. The charging is deducted from the salary based on the actual energy consumption instead of a lump sum payment. This makes it more beneficial for employees.

We believe in a better life with electricity and a more sustainable future. We want to do our share in building an emission-free future and enhance electric traffic.