Transport
The burning of fossil fuels including coal, oil, diesel, and natural gas results in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We burn fossil fuels for a variety of reasons. For instance, oil produces gasoline, and we burn gasoline -- as well as coal, diesel, and natural gas -- to power motor vehicles.
For the past 30 years, the transport sector’s share of CO2 emissions (that is, emissions resulting from the movement of people and goods) has increased at a faster pace than other sectors. From 1971 through 1997, transport-related CO2 emissions from industrialized countries nearly doubled and transport emissions, compared with 1971, 1980, and 1990 levels, increased their share of total emissions in almost all industrialized countries.
Globally, the transport sector now contributes 25 percent of all the CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. Approximately 80 percent of those emissions are from road transport, of which 60 percent is from automobiles, sports utility vehicles, and pick-up trucks used to meet commuter and other household transport needs.
In 2001, WRI established EMBARQ, a center for transport and the environment, which works in polluted, congested cities in developing countries, partnering with public decision-makers responsible for transport policy, the private sector, and local non-governmental organizations.