CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE IMPACTS ON VEHICULAR FUEL CONSUMPTION AND EMISSIONS – A SYSTEMATIC OVERVIEW IN AFRICA

Abstract

<p>Increasing energy demand has become a major issue of concern globally. Addressing the issue requires the sustainable development of the transportation sector of every nation. Sustainable transport system will meet basic and developmental needs while ensuring equity within and between generations. Fuel consumption and emissions are key issues of importance when considering the sustainability of road transportation. In order to actualize the SDGs, overarching factors impacting on transport vehicle fuel consumption and emissions should not be compromised. Weather being one of such factors is understudied especially in Africa based on the authors knowledge from literature. Consequently, the review accentuates on how weather parameters affect fuel consumption and emissions throwing more light on similar studies that have already been conducted to facilitate replicability in Africa. ‘Google scholar and Scopus’ were used to obtain relevant literature database from 2000-2022. In total, 111 articles were systematically reviewed, out of which 41 were from Europe, 38 from America, 23 from Asia and 7 from Africa. Among the weather parameters reviewed, temperature was the most pronounced with percentage share of 46 % followed by air pressure 16%, precipitation 15%, humidity 12%, wind 11%. All the weather factors strongly impacted on vehicular fuel consumption and its concomitant greenhouse gases emissions based on the results depicted by the review. Climate variability and change is detrimental to fuel consumption and emissions and should not be overemphasized when making road transport policies and decisions.</p>