By the OGJ Online Staff
LONDON, Oct. 11 -- More than 96% of the world's transportation depends on petroleum, said a detailed report issued on behalf of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The member companies of the sustainable development council are Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP PLC, DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co. General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Michelin Group, Norsk Hydro AS, Renault Group, Shell, Toyota Motor Corp., and Volkswagen Group.
The report suggests that the state of world transport systems is a very real concern: congestion, poor infrastructure, accident rates, noise, and pollution are at worrying levels and are getting worse in many parts of the world.
These are some of the key findings of "Mobility 2001," a comprehensive study of the world's mobility at the end of the twentieth century. A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Charles River Associates produced the report.
Shell Chairman Philip Watts, one of the three co-chairmen of the WBCSD's Sustainable Mobility Project, said, "It is research that confirms what I think many people suspected -- that if we are to avoid a continuing descent towards unsustainable gridlock and environmental degradation, then the way we move ourselves about is going to have to change.
"Given that the members of the project are drawn from the energy and motor manufacturing sectors, it may seem surprising that we are publishing such a frank analysis, but we are well placed to be part of the solution to these issues. ... We believe that our own commercial future depends on our ability to adapt and meet these challenges."
In the next phase of the project, the group will devise transportation sustainability plans for the coming decades.
