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Data needed to decarbonize paratransit in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Sustainably transitioning to electric vehicles is challenging where transport and electricity systems are poorly defined due to a lack of data, such as those dominated by paratransit (informal, privately owned ‘public’ transport). We call for a more systemic approach to data collection as a key enabler for this transition.

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Fig. 1: The potential benefits of EV adoption to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of M. D. McCulloch. We acknowledge core funding from the Climate Compatible Growth Programme of the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Energy and Power Group, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Katherine A. Collett & Stephanie A. Hirmer

  2. Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Stephanie A. Hirmer

Authors
  1. Katherine A. Collett
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  2. Stephanie A. Hirmer
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The authors developed the concept and structure of this Comment together and contributed equally to the writing and revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Katherine A. Collett or Stephanie A. Hirmer.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Sustainability thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Collett, K.A., Hirmer, S.A. Data needed to decarbonize paratransit in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nat Sustain 4, 562–564 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00721-7

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