🐾 Belle’s Question

“How do our travel choices affect climate change?”

📌 If you remember one thing

Different kinds of transport create very different amounts of greenhouse gases per passenger — and cleaner energy can make transport much cleaner over time.

🔍 What we cover

• What a carbon footprint means

• What CO2e means

• Why transport is responsible for roughly one quarter of global energy-related CO2 emissions

• Why buses and trains can be efficient because many people share the same vehicle

• Why large SUVs carrying one person can have surprisingly high emissions per passenger

• Why aircraft are difficult to decarbonise

• Why cruise ships use large amounts of energy

• LNG shipping fuel and the problem of methane leakage

• Why electric cars matter

• Why cleaner electricity makes electric vehicles even cleaner

• Hydrogen fuel-cell buses and trucks in China

• Airbus and future hydrogen aircraft

• Green methanol as a possible future fuel for ships

🌟 One Bright Thing

Engineers around the world are developing cleaner fuels for the hardest kinds of transport. China is already testing hydrogen fuel-cell buses and trucks, while Airbus is exploring hydrogen aircraft designs for the future. For ships, green methanol may offer a more practical lower-carbon fuel because it is easier to store and handle than hydrogen. Different journeys may need different clean fuels — with cleaner electricity helping power them all.

📊 Key numbers mentioned

• Transport produces roughly one quarter of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions

• A nearly empty large SUV can create surprisingly high emissions per passenger

• Electric vehicles become cleaner when powered by renewable electricity

🧑‍🏫 Teacher Notes

Useful discussion questions:

• Why does sharing transport lower emissions per passenger?

• Why are aircraft harder to decarbonise than cars?

• Why does the source of electricity matter for electric vehicles?

• Why might ships and aircraft need different fuels from ordinary cars?

This episode also links well with:

• Episode 4 — Methane: The Super-Powered Greenhouse Gas

• Episode 12 — Food Choices & Climate

📚 Sources & further reading

IPCC, Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report  https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/

IEA, Transport sector emissions https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport

Our World in Data, CO2 emissions from transport https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport

International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), LNG shipping and methane leakage

https://theicct.org/publication/options-for-reducing-methane-emissions-from-new-and-existing-lng-fueled-ships-sept23/

Airbus, Hydrogen aircraft concepts  https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/energy-transition/hydrogen

IEA, Global EV Outlook  https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2025