UPM-Biofore-Magazine-2-2017-ENG

TEXT VESA PUOSKARI   PHOTOGRAPHY UPM; COURTESY OF THE INTERVIEWEES

Cleaner road traffic with RENEWABLE FUELS

The world’s population is on the rise, and the same goes for passenger and freight traffic. Transport emissions must be brought under control in order to curb the effects of climate change. But what practical solutions are there to this urgent problem?

A t rush hour, traffic can be seen, heard and felt: exhaust gas emissions are released at street level, directly into the air we breathe. Carbon dioxide is only part of the problem: exhaust gases also contain nitrogen oxides and nanoparticles that are hazardous to health. A fewmetropolitan cities such as Paris are trying to improve air quality by banning diesel cars and trucks from accessing the city centre from the year 2025 onward. “Emissions frompassenger cars can also be reduced with renewable fuels or other low-emission options, such as electricity. There are, however, fewer options for cutting emissions fromheavy duty traffic,” says Maiju Helin , Senior Manager, Sustainability andMarket Development at UPMBiofuels. In Finland, heavy duty vehicles consume approximately 80% of all diesel, while the proportion globally is 70%. “Increasing the usage of renewable low-emission fuels such as renewable

diesel in heavy duty vehicles is an effective and readily available solution for both the

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