Australia needs to adopt electric vehicles quickly, but they are not the key to reducing transport emissions, study says. The country's reliance on private vehicles must fall by more than half for the country to play its part in reducing global emissions by 2030, according to a report released today by the Climate Council. Eighty-one per cent of journeys will be made in private vehicles across Australia, but the report says this is expected to drop to 36 per cent by the end of the decade. "If we really want to significantly reduce emissions from passenger traffic this decade, we need to change the way our transportation system operates from one that is about moving around cars to one that really prioritizes moving around people," said Climate Council head of advocacy Jennifer Rayner . The federal government's goal is to reduce emissions by 43 percent by 2030 based on 2005 levels. However, the Climate Council recommends that the country aim to reduce emissions by 75 per cent and reach net zero by 2035 for Australia to play its part in reducing global emissions. dr. Rayner said that if this goal was to be achieved, commuters would need to use a range of different modes of transport with a greater reliance on public and active transport. This would mean that 49 percent of trips would have to be made by public transport and 15 percent by active transport. The remaining 36 percent would be private vehicles. (Nicholas McElroy, ABC Gold Coast)