How Will Natural Gas Continue to Decarbonize Transportation as EVs Enter the Fast Lane?

The transportation sector has the highest reliance on fossil fuels, and with the International Energy Agency estimating that to get the sector up to speed with net zero goals – which it currently is not – emissions would need to drop to 6 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide on an annual basis by 2030. For reference, the agency estimated that in 2021, emissions from the global transportation sector rose to 7.7 Gt after falling to 7.1 Gt during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Three decades ago, it appeared natural gas vehicles (NGV) would drive the United States over the bridge to a more sustainable transportation sector. However, as electric vehicle (EV) technology has evolved, and as U.S. consumers have shown more favorability to EVs in the passenger vehicle market, NGVs have shifted to the heavy-duty transportation sector. NGI Senior Analyst Josten Mavez discusses why this shift occurred and how natural gas could continue to promote decarbonization in the transportation sector despite EVs’ takeover.