Fighting Climate Change With Green License Plates

Save the turtles! Ever since buying metal straws flooded Instagram as a massive social media push, environmentalism has become closer to our hearts than ever. Most people use reusable cups or straws in their homes as a way to help in the fight against climate change, but the fact remains that personal changes hardly stand a chance against the major sources of pollution. The power to change the course of our future lies mainly in the hands of governments and industries As an example, China has instituted a policy that will reduce mobile sources (for instance:. cars, busses, trains) of air pollution.

During my recent trip to China, I noticed that there was a noticeable increase in the number of electric cars on roads. It’s not too hard to miss, considering “green” cars have a green shaded car plate in contrast to other standard car plates. The license plate colour, in retrospect, wasn’t really the coolest thing about them. Many cities in China have a license plate quota to limit the number of cars on the road as a way to diminish the number of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. This quota was established in response to the steadily increasing amount of smog caused by automobiles. In China, air quality is mostly measured in Particulate Matter (PM 2.5). Particulate Matter (air pollutants) usually come from construction sites, power plants, industrial work, and automobiles. Generally, having a PM measure of 50 and below is considered “good”. Accordingly, a PM measure of 51-100 is “moderate,” and PM measures above 100 are “unhealthy.” Beijing, with a population of 21.54 million, had an average PM measure of around 160 in 2016. The license plate quota allows the government to try to stop more particulate matter from entering the atmosphere.

While this strategy sounds effective in theory, it can cause significant frustration for people who live in large cities. If you were a citizen in Beijing who owned a car, you wouldn’t be able to drive until you got a license plate from the government. The odds of getting a license plate in 2018 were 1 in 2031. These odds are likely even lower today. The car plate system in China is vastly different from what we see in Canada. To obtain a license plate, a person must enter a license plate lottery by completing paperwork. This license plate lottery can consist of up to millions of people. Then, they will wait for what could be years and years and years in hopes that their name is drawn. The reason? This quota cuts down the number of new vehicles on the roads in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions as a whole. While it is achieving its intended goal, it causes lots of frustration among citizens who view cars as a necessity to busy city life.

Since the number of available gasoline car plates decreased by a third since 2015, electric cars have seen a rise in popularity. Another reason for the rise is that obtaining plates for electric vehicles (EVs) require a different application process; rather than a lottery, it’s on a first-come first-serve basis. As well, the quota for EVs are around 60 000, which is nearly double the gasoline car quota. It’s no wonder many are abandoning the lottery to “win” a gasoline car plate in place for an EV car plate. In the process of slowly phasing out gasoline cars, carbon emissions are on the decline. Finally, this quota for both gasoline cars and EVs helps with the many grid-locked cities in China with traffic control.

Saving the environment is hard. It takes more than turning down the thermostat or switching to reusable cups. Though these are important changes we must continue to make, it takes more than making these smaller personal changes. Governments need to take steps to help. As a UN report done in 2018 concluded, we had a projected 12 years to save the Earth from catastrophic environmental disaster. Keyword: “had”. A more recent study points to the likelihood of humanity only having 18 months to save the world. Environmental change starts with us but extends to our cities, our provinces, and our countries. So let’s get a move on, already.