“Six Transport Trends to Watch in 2021.” Visit the Front Page!, 21 Jan. 2021, www.transportenvironment.org/news/six-transport-trends-watch-2021. 

 

2020 saw significant changes in transport, some more temporary than others. The number of key trends that are likely to define 2021. The first being Soaring EV sales in Europe in 2020. More electric vehicles were bought in Europe in 2020, leading us to believe that this will be an ongoing trend in 2021 with even more sales. The second is COVID-19 impact on parcel delivery volume growth. With shops closed, the world was forced to go online. During the first lock-down, e-commerce picked up by around 30% in April compared to 2019 and individual delivery firms saw growth ranging from 15% to a whopping 50%. With more home deliveries, a shift to zero-emission trucks and vans is needed to ensure this doesn’t lead to more polluted cities. The third trend is Change in normal fuel prices. The graph shows how oil prices fell due to a drop in demand and, despite demand picking up again, prices remain low. The fourth is European flights, 2020. With the lockdown, flights number plummeted. The fifth was Public transport’s slow recovery in the UK. Public transport is recovering a lot slower than private motor vehicles, and despite this being a boon for walking and cycling, that’s a major problem for air pollution. The last trend is Electricity generation in Germany. In Germany, renewable electricity generation grew 12.3 TWh, or 5.1%, compared to 2019, while at the same time coal-fired generation decreased 37.3 TWh. 

As shown in the graphs in the article, you can see a clear decrease and increase when it comes to transportation trends in 2020. These trends are most likely going to continue in 2021 due to the pandemic still being intact in many places, however, some of these trends were huge benefits to the environment, such as the increase in purchases of electric cars. This is great and I hope the trend continues in Europe because electric cars are eco-friendly and help the environment and are also a great way to travel safely. Also, the trend in 2020 with Germany’s use of energy is great and I hope it continues and gets better throughout 2021. The use of coal decreased, while the use of renewable energy increased, whether it was for cars, homes, or factories. In the graph relating to European flights, you can see the clear decrease when covid first hit, which is great for the environment, but bad for business, however, you can see the graph starting to go up again which is good for the economy, but not great for the environment, however, I doubt that in 2021 it will reach the highest percentage of people on flights again.