Skip to main content

New York transit joins Paris greenhouse gas initiative

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris document seeks to keep a global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level and to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The SBTi is a joint partnership between United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, World Wildlife Fund and non-profit
November 13, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

New York’s 1267 Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Paris document seeks to keep a global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level and to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The SBTi is a joint partnership between United Nations Global Compact, the 4722 World Resources Institute, World Wildlife Fund and non-profit organisation CDP.

The MTA is to set targets to reduce greenhouse emissions across its transportation and non-transportation activities. It will be required to meet these goals within the next 15 years.

The targets may include bus electrification, the electrification of diesel-powered commuter rail lines, increased energy efficiency at facilities and working with vendors to reduce emissions throughout its supply chain. Emissions per-passenger-mile can be reduced by looking into increasing capacity across public transport modes, MTA says.

In a separate move, MTA is to complete more than 75 energy efficiency projects with New York Power Authority by the end of 2020. It will also aim to convert its diesel bus fleet to electric by 2040.

Related Content

  • December 1, 2015
    VW scandal prompts emissions testing debate
    In the wake of the VW scandal John Kendall looks at emissions testing on both sides of the Atlantic. Since the VW emissions story broke in September, emissions testing has come under greater scrutiny, and none more so than in Europe, where critics have long been highlighting the weaknesses of the testing system. Ironically, changes to the emissions testing process were already under review but the story has pushed it up the agenda.
  • April 7, 2017
    Clean diesel technology most cost-effective way to reduce emissions, officials told
    The state environmental policymakers attending the Spring Meeting of the US Environmental Council of States (ECOS) have heard how states can achieve the most cost-effective and immediate air emission reductions by targeting the largest sources of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions and replacing or upgrading those with the newest generation of clean diesel technology. Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, highlighted the environmental benefits of new diesel technology dur
  • July 30, 2013
    Kapsch ‘opens the way’ to interoperability
    Richard Turnock, chief technology officer of Kapsch TrafficCom North America explains what advantages its newly-opened TDM protocol can offer as a US-wide standard for tolling interoperability. The electronic tolling industry across the United States is evolving. Historically it was characterised by clusters of interoperability where a motorist may be able to use the same transponder across a large area, such as the 15-State E-ZPass system, or be confined to a single State system. Now, however, the industry
  • March 5, 2020
    Ride-hailing ‘causes 69% more emissions’ than car trips: report
    Ride-hailing trips are producing 69% greater emissions compared to the trips they are replacing, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).