Rising transportation emissions
Global transportation CO₂ emissions increased by almost five percent in 2022, with emissions from the sector continuing to rebound from the unprecedented COVID-19-related reductions observed in 2020. Overall, CO₂ emissions from transportation have increased by more than 70 percent since 1990, and now account for more than 20 percent of global CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels. While transportation emissions vary by region, they have increased at a much faster rate in developing regions when compared to North America and Europe, owing to growing incomes and the increased ownership of cars. China, for example, has seen emissions from this sector more than triple since the turn of the century. Nevertheless, the U.S. remains the sectors biggest carbon polluter by far.The majority of global transportation-related emissions come from road vehicles, which alone produced 12 percent of total global GHG emissions in 2021. This makes road transportation the second-largest contributor to global emissions, behind coal-fired power. The primary source of transportation emissions are light-duty vehicles, i.e., passenger cars, whose emissions have increased by an average of one percent per year since 2010 to more than 3.5 GtCO₂.
