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The study by Victoria's Bus Association looked at greenhouse gas emissions from all forms of transport, including buses, cars, trucks and trains. (ABC )
Melburnians use 3.1 tonnes of carbon per person each year, compared with 1.2 tonnes per person in Greater London. (AAP: Simon Mossman)
Its population is about half the size, but each year Melbourne produces 2.5 million tonnes more greenhouse gas emissions than London.
The figures have emerged from a study by Victoria's Bus Association, which looked at greenhouse gas emissions from all forms of transport, including buses, cars, trucks and trains.
Victoria's Bus Association represents 550 private companies that operate more than 4,500 buses and coaches, so it has a vested interest in looking to the future when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Association's report into the total amount of greenhouse emissions produced by all modes of transport in Melbourne paints a somewhat disturbing picture that will provide plenty of challenges for the State Government in the years ahead.
The research compares the population of greater Melbourne to London.
It reveals that Melburnians use 3.1 tonnes of carbon per person each year, compared with 1.2 tonnes per person in Greater London.
While the report reveals a population using significantly more energy for travel, the report's authors says the figures are easily explained.
Co-author John Stanley is the executive director of Bus Association Victoria.
"London is a much more compact city and if you have a compact city with relatively high density, you can have a dense public transport network, and public transport use is very high in London," he said.
"With a compact city you have shorter trips so those sorts of factors are really fundamental to why the emissions are lower in London."
He says public transport is one part of the answer to solving the emissions problem.
"For example, a substantial improvement in the fuel efficiency of our vehicle fleet is a fundamental requirement if we are going to achieve the sort of cuts that [Professor Ross] Garnaut is talking about," he said.
"I think a lot of the electric technology starting to be looked at now hold out great potential in this regard. I think that probably is going to be the area we are going to see it, but there are some simple things too.
"If you look at car occupancy rates. I mean they average only about 1.4 people per car. If we could increase that by about 10 per cent to say 1.5, 1.6, that is about the same as doubling public transport occupancy."
Infrastructure issues
Professor Graeme Currie is from the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University in Melbourne.
He says the use of alternative fuels is one of the key ways of reducing emissions, but there are other significant changes required for a city with the geographical spread of Melbourne.
He says urban redesign and infrastructure are central to providing solutions.
"The main constraint we have on getting people to use public transport is the fact that our systems don't cover the whole of the city," he said.
"Infrastructure from my point of view just means we have to provide people with alternatives. At the moment, most people in the city really don't have too much of an alternative other than the car, hence they use it.
"If people can walk to activities, this is a fantastic way of giving them a new alternative. It is good for their health and so forth but unfortunately most people live a long way from any activities of that type."
He says redesign is key to more environmentally friendly transport, but he acknowledges that will take time.
"By redeveloping the city, by having higher density and conglomeration around centres, this could be a way of creating new ways of living," he said.
"Our problem is that it is not going to be something that happens quickly. Getting change like that in our cities will take a while, which is why in some ways the infrastructure step is probably the first one."
