“Carpooling should allow us to reduce emissions by 3 million tonnes by 2027” estimates François Gemenne

Every Saturday we decipher climate issues with François Gemenne, professor at HEC, president of the Scientific Council of the Foundation for Nature and Man and member of the IPCC.

Road transport represents a third of greenhouse gas emissions. This scourge calls for solutions sometimes as simple as carpooling, which is still struggling to develop today. A significant delay that will have to be made up for, believes François Gemenne.

This solution might seem obvious, when most cars are designed to carry 4 or 5 passengers. The problem is that “the average car occupancy rate in France is 1.22 passengers. In the morning, during rush hour, 86% of drivers are alone in their car, according to the latest barometer of self-driving published by Vinci Autoroutes“, criticizes François Gemenne.

franceinfo: Does the lack of carpooling also pose a problem for traffic jams?

François Gemenne: Obviously ! If we focus on greenhouse gas emissions: road transport, in 2023, represents 120 million tonnes of CO2, that is to say a third of national greenhouse gas emissions – the first broadcast station.

Three quarters of these emissions are produced by passenger transport, and therefore especially private cars, which represent 80% of the kilometers traveled on French roads.

Our objective, according to the national low-carbon strategy, is to reduce these emissions by around a quarter, by 32 million tonnes, in 2030, thanks to electric cars, thanks to sobriety, that is to say say the reduction in the number of our trips, thanks to public transport, and also, thanks to carpooling. This should allow us to reduce emissions by 3 million tonnes, thanks to 3 million daily carpool journeys planned by 2027. The problem today is that we are not at all on the right track. trajectory: only a third of these journeys are made today.

“The road is straight, but the slope is steep“, as a former prime minister would say…

He couldn’t have said it better. We will have to make carpooling take off, and in particular everyday carpooling. On journeys between 10 and 80 kilometers, the car remains overwhelmingly dominant, around 85%, with 50 million daily journeys. However, there are several carpooling operators, who are now developing carpooling lines, to make the car a new collective transport. But without action from public authorities, we will not be able to get carpooling off the ground. We must develop a shock of offers to counter solo driving, and this is the subject of a note from the Alliance for the decarbonization of the road which has just been published.

What’s in this note?

There are several very concrete proposals to get carpooling off the ground. In particular the need for better communication. Many drivers are still largely unaware of the possibilities that exist, in particular carpooling lines, which allow you to carpool in the same way as you take the bus. Simply go to a carpool stop, enter your destination, which is then communicated to other drivers, and within minutes a car arrives to take you. This is essential, because often, a barrier to carpooling is that we fear depending on the schedules of other drivers, and carpooling lines allow us to remove this barrier.

Real work with communities must be undertaken to further develop these lines.

But there is also a financial question: clear financial incentives are needed to reward drivers, but also to reduce the perceived cost of the journey for passengers.

However, carpooling actually saves money, right?

Of course! The vehicles wear out less, and above all you share the fuel costs. But this still requires incentives, because when you drive your car, you don’t realize the cost of the trip, even if it is higher. Whereas when you are a passenger, you will receive the cost of the journey, which will be billed to you. So, we have to convince drivers to become passengers, and make them understand that it costs them less.

Of course, there is also the question of infrastructure…

It is indeed necessary to have reserved lanes on the main roads, as already exists in certain places, and interchange parks, particularly near stations, which make it possible to combine different means of transport.

The development of carpooling is truly essential, because it not only reduces our greenhouse gas emissions, but also reduces traffic jams and the cost of travel. We call these co-benefits: these are the tangible and immediate benefits, for us, of decarbonization.