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Transportation accounts for 15% of global emissions
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
January 7, 2008


The transport sector accounts for 15 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and 31 percent of ozone released into the atmosphere by humankind, reports a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Analyzing emissions from road, air, shipping, and rail transport, Jan Fuglestvedt of Norway's Center for International Climate and Environmental Research and colleagues found that road transport is the largest contributor to global warming. The authors estimate that over the next 100 years, emissions from transport will be responsible for 16 percent of all man-made emissions, increasing from the 15 percent share since preindustrial times.

In the United States most energy use goes towards transportation according to the Energy Information Administration's Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2004.

Fuglestvedt and colleagues also note that a significant proportion of the emissions that result from transport are not covered by the Kyoto Protocol.

The findings suggest that deforestation, which accounts for 15-20 percent of global emissions, is a larger contributor to GHG concentrations than transportation.

CITATION: Jan Fuglestvedt et al. (2007). Climate forcing from the transport sectors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 7-11, 2008.