The carbon footprint of government health department fleet vehicles in Johannesburg, South Africa – a case study

ABSTRACT

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that climate change is caused by human activities. This case study presents findings on the vehicle use by the Department of Health in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng province, South Africa. The objectives of this study are to estimate the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of government fleet vehicles and to identify mitigation measures to reduce the vehicle carbon emissions. Both the World Resource Institute Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) and the United Kingdom Department of Environmental Forestry and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) methodologies were used. The study revealed that the government fleet vehicles emitted 1362 t CO₂e for a five year period (2010 − 2014), which is equivalent to $ 9 071 of the South African carbon tax. Various measures to reduce CO₂e emissions were recommended, money saving from fuel and potential revenue generating opportunities were identified, including the use of hybrid vehicles.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon footprints
• climate change
• department of health
• hybrid vehicles
• electrical vehicles

Acknowledgments

This research paper would not have been possible without the funding received from the University of South Africa (UNISA), which is gratefully acknowledged. We also express our appreciation to Ekurhuleni Health District in participating in this study.

Ethical clearance was obtained from both Ekurhuleni Ethics Committee (project number: 2013-09-2013-01) and District office as well as the University of South Africa (UNISA) Ethics Committee (reference number 2013/CAES/030).

The authors wish to thank the reviewers for their constructive critique and evaluation of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Based on similar comment made by the ‘The Grand Tour’, TV show, no date

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the