Where are transportation emissions highest?
Each year the United States produces the largest volume of transportation emissions worldwide, which in 2018 totaled 1.76 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. This was roughly twice the volume of CO2 emissions produced by China’s transportation sector – the second biggest emitter. While transportation emissions in the U.S. remain the highest by far, they have increased by just five percent in the last decade. In comparison, emissions from transportation in China have increased by 40 percent since 2010 and tenfold since 1990.Rapid economic development in China, and countries such as India have led to a surge in transportation emissions in the Asia-Pacific region, and in 2017 they surpassed those produced in North America for the first time. Transportation emissions in Africa and the Middle East have also seen dramatic increases in in recent decades. Whilst those in North America and Europe have started to rise again in recent years, they have slowed down.