Kiwi women are much greener than men, at least when they travel. This is the revelation of a study performed on the New Zealand travel industry, which showed that women generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions than do men when traveling. The research was conducted by The University of Otago in New Zealand and shared on the Science Direct website.
The study, led by Dr. Carolina Shaw, with assistance from researchers Marie Russell, Michael Keall, Sara MacBride-Stewart, Kristy Wild, Dory Reeves, Rebecca Bentley and Alistair Woodward, looked at transportation data of nearly 50,000 people from 2002 to 2014, using information supplied by the New Zealand Household Travel Survey. The research showed that, despite men traveling by bike twice as much as women, the female segment was more apt to use more diverse forms of travel in general, and generated less greenhouse gas waste.
The group explains in its findings, “Women took more trips, but travelled between 12-17 per cent fewer kilometres per day and were more likely to walk and use public transport than men. Thus, women overall had a more diverse and lower greenhouse gas emission travel profile than men.” They added, “Men are more likely to cycle than women in NZ and cyclists get more physical activity. Nonetheless, analysis across all travel (irrespective of regularity of cycling status) suggests that women use more diverse travel modes and generate lower greenhouse gas emissions than men. Better consideration of the social processes shaping travel is needed to create policy, institutions, programmes and infrastructure that achieve the long-term goals of the transport system, such as increasing cycling and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
The results come almost in tandem with a report on overall greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Statistics New Zealand published a report yesterday that shows changes in the emissions in New Zealand over the past decade. It showed that household emissions have increased by 11.8% over the period, bringing the percentage dangerously close to the same level of 13.2% seen from the manufacturing industry.
Stephen Oakley, an environmental-economic accounts manager with Statistics New Zealand, says in the report, “Household emissions grew slightly faster than the increase in the number of households, which was up 11 per cent over the same period, suggesting that since 2007 households have become slightly less efficient at managing their emissions.”
Vehicles are being used more than ever, becoming the leading cause of the increase in household greenhouse gas emissions. Primarily, Kiwis prefer to climb into their own cars to head out on a trip, and this was responsible for 30% of the household segment’s increase in emissions. Emissions from tourism as a whole increased by 16.3% over the 2007-2018 period.
New Zealand’s emissions intensity, the calculation of emissions against a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), fell during the timeframe. The intensity registered a 0.2% annual decline, while the GDP saw yearly growth of 2.2%. Adds Oakley, “Despite this decrease in emissions intensity, there has been significant variation in whether and how industries are changing their emissions profile, although no industries have showed decreasing levels of economic activity along with increasing emissions.”
Several industries, including retail, finance, telecommunications and health care, saw a decrease in emissions and an increase in economic activity during the period. On the other hand, government and transportation services saw increases in both emissions and economic activity, and agriculture saw both figures increase – 0.1% annually for emissions and 1.4% annually for its economic activity.
