A study examines the impact of a worldwide shift away from automobile infrastructure and finds a staggering amount of potential benefits by the year 2050.
"More than $100 trillion in public and private spending could be saved between now and 2050 if the world expands public transportation, walking and cycling in cities, according to a new report released by the University of California, Davis, and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy."
Announced by a UC Davis press release, A Global High Shift Scenario "is the first study to examine how major changes in transportation investments worldwide would affect urban passenger transport emissions as well as the mobility of different income groups."
The report relies on a "High Shift" scenario to model the potential environmental benefits of moving away from auto-oriented planning. The High Shift would significantly increase rail and clean buses, walking and biking, reduce construction of roads and parking, and adopt more protective emission control standards.
FULL STORY: Global shift to mass transit could save more than $100 trillion and 1,700 megatons of CO2
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