Greenhouse gas emission from motor vehicles in Poland in 2015

Global warming of the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere in the historical time scale, from about 11.7 thousand years onwards, that is, from the end of the last glaciation in the Holocene era and the beginning of the interglacial, which is a warmer period of the last mega-glaciation, is not deniable [Climate change evidence & causes …2017, Climate change: a summary of …2017, Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2012]. The causes of global warming, under conditions of a relatively stable solar activity, have mainly been attributed to the increasing atmospheric concentration of the so-called greenhouse gases due to the ever increasing emission of these gases [Climate change evidence & causes …2017, Climate change: a summary of …2017, Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2012]. Greenhouse gas emissions originate mainly from natural sources, though the dynamic development of human activities is also responsible for the increased emission of these gases [Climate change evidence & causes …2017, Climate change: a summary of …2017, Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2012]. This finds confirmation in the increase in the average Earth temperature, since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-nineteenth century in particular. The causes and effects of global warming have been widely discussed in many publications, sometimes with contradicting statements, primarily popular, but also academic.

Global warming of the Earth’s surface and of lower layers of the atmosphere has been viewed as the reason for the changing climate. That is why, since the end of the 20th century, international activities have been undertaken to prevent climate change [Kyoto Protocol…2005, United Nations Framework…1992, Report of the Conference of the Parties…2014, The science of climate…2015]. Poland has been participating in the international efforts to prevent climate change by virtue of the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), New York, May 9, 1992 [1992] and the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto, 11 December 1997 [2005]. As part of these activities, Poland, besides other countries listed in Annex 1 to the Convention, has been conducting annual inventories of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, in accordance with Decision 24/ CP.19 [United Nations Framework…1992] of the Convention.

Pursuant to the Act of 17 July 2009 on the system of managing emissions of greenhouse gases and other substances, the unit responsible for developing the Polish inventories of greenhouse gas emissions, to be reported to the European Union and to the Convention, is the National Centre for Emissions Management and Balancing (KOBiZE) at the Institute of Environmental Protection – the National Research Institute, supervised by the Minister of the Environment. The data on greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 [Poland’s national inventory report 2017] reported by the KOBiZE was used in this article to analyse the share of road transport emission in the total emission across all categories of human activities inventoried.

The national annual emission of greenhouse gases has been determined in accordance with the guidance binding the States Parties to the Convention, pursuant to Decision 24/CP.19 of the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework… 1992] prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2006 in the form of a guidebook: IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories [2016]. The IPCC guidelines allow the use of national methodologies or models for estimating the greenhouse gas emissions. The COPERT 4 software (Computer Program for Calculating Emissions from Road Traffic) was used to determine the greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles [EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission…2016, 9. Gkatzoflias at al 2012]. The COPERT model has been developed under the patronage of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for reporting the national emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from road transport.

Detailed data for COPERT software, including, among others, the number of motor vehicles and intensity of use as well as the characteristics of vehicle traffic in Poland, is presented in publications [Bebkiewicz at al 2017a, Bebkiewicz at al 2017b, Bebkiewicz at al 2017c] and in the KOBiZE report [Poland’s informative inventory report 2017]. The COPERT model has currently been used in most of the EU Member States to calculate the emissions of greenhouse gases and other substances (detrimental for living organisms) as the basis for official reporting of emissions to international conventions and the European Union.

All countries that are party to the Kyoto Protocol are required to provide national annual inventories of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases. These inventories outline the basis for the settlement of reduction commitments, which include the following substances: gases and gas groups [2006 IPCC Guidelines…2016, Kyoto Protocol…2006, United Nations Framework 1992]

In the article, the commonly applied nomenclature of some chemical compounds is used, in contrast to the systematic nomenclature applied by the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry). This is due to the fact that the journal is addressed to readers representing primarily the scientific discipline ‘Environmental engineering’, and to a lesser extent to those dealing with chemical sciences and disciplines in the field of technical sciences: ‘Chemical Engineering’ and ‘Chemical Technology’.

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carbon dioxide - CO₂,

Greenhouse gas emissions cover only emissions from anthropogenic sources and are reported within five main categories [2006 IPCC Guidelines…2016, Kyoto Protocol..2006, United Nations Framework 1992]:

energy

The categories of anthropogenic sources, together with their subcategories, have been classified according to the Common Reporting Format (CRF) [2006 IPCC Guidelines…2016, Poland’s national inventory report 2017].

Sector 1. Energy (CRF 1) also includes fuel combustion in transport (CRF 1.A.3), subdivided into the following subsectors [2006 IPCC Guidelines…2016, Poland’s national inventory report 2017]:

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air transport (CRF 1.A.3.a)

The following greenhouse gases arise from fuel combustion in the transport sector [Kyoto Protocol..2006, United Nations Framework 1992]:

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carbon dioxide

The emission of specific greenhouse gases can also be presented jointly, using the so-called carbon dioxide equivalent.

The value of the potential for creating a greenhouse effect (GWP - Global Warming Potential) for gases other than carbon dioxide, used since 2015 in national emission inventories, was adopted in accordance with Annex III to Decision 24/CP.19 of the Parties to the Convention (Table 1) [United Nations Framework 1992].

Table 1

Global warming potential of gases.

Table 2 presents the national annual emission of the three gases and the national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent attributed to the inventoried sources and to road transport in Poland in 2015 as well as the share of individual substances in the national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent from the inventoried emission sources and from road transport [Poland’s national inventory report 2017].

Table 2

National annual greenhouse gas emission – E_a; national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent – E_aCO2eq from the sources inventoried and road transport in Poland in 2015; the share – u_CO2eq of individual substances in the national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent from the inventoried emission sources and from road transport [Poland’s national inventory report 2017].

The national annual emission of individual greenhouse gases as well as the national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent from the inventoried sources is presented in Figure 1, while that from road transport in Poland in 2015 – in Figure 2.

Figure 1

Figure 2

It is clearly visible that carbon dioxide emission dominates among the greenhouse gases due to its intensifying effect of the greenhouse phenomenon, both in the case of the national annual emission from all categories of anthropogenic sources and that attributed discretely to road transport, notwithstanding the warming potential of CO₂ being much smaller than that of methane and, especially, than that of nitrous oxide.

Figure 3 presents a comparison of the national annual emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and the equivalent of carbon dioxide arising from the inventoried emission sources – T and from road transport – RT.

Figure 3

In Figure 4, a comparison is given between the shares of the national annual emissions of individual substances in the national emission of the annual carbon dioxide equivalent, arising from the inventoried emission sources and from road transport.

Figure 4

In the inventoried emission sources, the share of the national annual emission of carbon dioxide in the national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent is almost 7 times greater than that of methane and over 16 times greater than that of nitrous oxide. In road transport, this difference is larger still: over 400 times in relation to methane and almost 100 times in relation to nitrous oxide. The share of the national annual emission of carbon dioxide in the national annual emission of carbon dioxide equivalent attributed to road transport is by almost 20% higher than that attributed to all inventoried emission sources.

The results of national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions submitted to the international forum by the States Parties to the Convention, including by Poland, are subject to detailed analyses and evaluations, carried out annually by the Secretariat of the UNFCCC and the European Union. As a result of these activities, the greenhouse gas emissions are verified and approved for the settlement of the reduction commitments.

The assessment of individual greenhouse gases in their total emission indicates that the dominant share is attributable to carbon dioxide. This is particularly evident in the case of road transport – the emission of gases other than carbon dioxide (methane and nitrous oxide) is several orders of magnitude lower than the emission of carbon dioxide.

In spite of the catastrophic opinions regarding the effect of motorisation on the intensification of the greenhouse phenomenon, carbon dioxide emission from road transport in Poland accounted in 2015 for as little as about 14% of carbon dioxide emissions from all the inventoried anthropogenic emission sources. The Poland’s share in the emission of greenhouse gases from road transport in the European Union was 5%.

As the prevalence of carbon dioxide emissions over the emissions of other greenhouse gases is so noticeable in road transport, the primary way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to the increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, is to reduce the consumption of carbon containing fossil fuels [Chłopek 2012, Climate change evidence & causes …2017, Climate change: a summary of …2017, Jacobson 2002, Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2012, The science of climate change…2015]. It should be noted that the emission of the other two greenhouse gases from road transport is, in a sense, related to pro-ecological undertakings. Emission of methane from internal combustion engines is associated primarily with the use of gaseous fuels, mainly derived from natural gas, as well as fuels with alcohol additives [Chłopek 2012]. The emission of nitrous oxide is associated with catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (nitric oxide and dioxide) in exhaust gas after treatment systems [Chłopek 2012]. Of course, the priority – in connection with the criteria of sustainable development – is in such a situation, to reduce the emission of substances detrimental to living organisms [Chłopek 2012].

Technical progress in the construction of motor vehicles has contributed to a very significant reduction in the emission of pollutants detrimental for living organisms; the results of tests in homologation procedures indicate a decrease in emissions of road pollutants over the last quarter-century by two orders of magnitude [Chłopek 2012]. Unfortunately, such progress in terms of fuel consumption cannot be achieved. The basic reason for that is the irrefutability of natural laws: the thermal efficiency of a heat engine, in line with the second law of thermodynamics, must be limited by the temperature of the upper and lower heat sources. Therefore, the essential reduction of fossil carbon dioxide emissions from road transport can only be achieved, in order to obtain the useful work from the means of transport, through the use of primary energy carriers belonging to the so-called renewable energy sources [Chłopek 2012, Jacobson 2002]. Even greater improvement in the reduction of fossil carbon dioxide emissions from the transport means can be fetched by comprehensive solutions to rationalize human activity: the most effective way is to replace the transport of matter with the information transfer [Chłopek 2012].