GEOG 438W
Human Dimensions of Global Warming

Transportation

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Traffic backed up in a city
Traffic.
Credit: Traffic © Theron LaBounty from Flickr is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Transportation is a fundamental activity causing climate change. The transport sector includes air, sea, rail, road, and off-road transport and depends on petroleum for 95 percent of its energy. Consequently, it produces 23 percent of the energy-based GHGs, with 75 percent of those GHGs coming from road transport. Moreover, GHG emissions from this sector are the fastest-growing of all emissions. It is imperative that society figures out ways to reduce emissions from transport ––especially road transport –– in the near future.