'Green traffic' helps Shanghai Expo cut emissions
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A report released Thursday detailed how the green traffic initiative promoted during the Shanghai Expo helped cut carbon emissions by 830,000 tonnes.
The cut equals the reduction of the consumption of 350 million liters of gasoline, said the report titled Shanghai World Expo 2010 Green Travel Report.
The Shanghai World Expo, held for six months beginning last May, attracted more than 73 million visitors, 94 percent of whom had chosen public transportation or zero-emission travel vehicles, such as bicycles, said the report that was jointly released by the Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
Daniel J. Dudek, vice president of EDF, said the "green travel" concept was far more significant than the emission numbers, as it had promoted "the low-carbon lifestyle."
According to a survey included in the report, the percentage of respondents who heard of the concept of "green travel" increased to 98 percent after the Expo, compared with only 67.7 percent in 2009.
Following the Shanghai Expo, Yeosu World Expo and London Olympics in 2012 will also promote the "low-carbon" concept and spread it throughout the world, said Dudek.
