The Bermuda Government has been challenged by the environmental group Greenrock to commit to ambitious cuts in carbon emissions, even as the organisation welcomed the planned venture into a “greener” bus system.

Grant Gibbons, the Minister of Economic Development, revealed this month that the electric, hybrid or liquefied natural gas-operated buses were being contemplated for the present fleet of diesel vehicles.

Greenrock opposes the use of LNG vehicles, which only marginally reduces carbon emissions, and the group has called upon the island to adopt the Paris Agreement on climate change, as was done with the Kyoto Agreement before it — as well as developing a “zero-carbon public transport by 2030”.

A phased switch to the use of renewable energy such as solar, wind and marine power was suggested, although the group recognised the greater carbon efficiency of powering electric vehicles from a grid ultimately powered by fossil fuels.

Greenrock further called for a “zero-carbon transport plan for 2040” — along with setting and enforcing of emissions standards for all vehicles by 2018, basing licensing fees for private vehicles on emissions rather than size alone, offering incentives for lower emission vehicles, and a “national infrastructure plan for electric vehicle charging”.

In a statement, the group also urged for private vehicles based on the internal combustion engine to be phased out by 2040.