How much carbon emissions does the transport sector cause?

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the transport sector is responsible for around one-fifth of all man-made global CO₂ emissions, making the transport sector one of the biggest polluters. Global energy production continues to lead the list of CO₂ emitters, accounting for over one-third of all global carbon emissions. The breakdown of global CO₂ emissions in the transport sector is as follows:

• 45.1% Passenger transport by road
• 29.4% Freight traffic on the road
• 11.6% Air traffic (81% passenger, 19% freight)
• 10.6% Shipping
• 1% Rail transport
• 2.2% Other

(Source: IEA)

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Thus, cars, buses, cabs, and motorcycles account for almost half of the CO₂ emissions in the transport sector, and this needs to be decarbonized. With the adoption of the "European Green Deal" in 2019, the EU committed to achieving a climate-neutral economy by 2050. However, the transport sector is the only sector that has not achieved emissions reductions in Europe since 1990.

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The EU has set the most ambitious CO₂ target for passenger cars in the world, requiring a value of 95 grams of CO₂ per kilometer to be complied with from 2021 (a manufacturer's fleet limit value). Starting from the 2021 limits, manufacturers in the EU must reduce CO₂ emissions by a further 15% by 2025 and by almost another 38% by 2030. In the United States of America, the limit is 118 grams, and in China, it is 117 grams of CO₂ per kilometer. In 2020, the average CO₂ emissions per kilometer in Europe were around 107 grams, thanks to the increase in new registrations of electric vehicles. A ban on new registrations of vehicles with internal combustion engines will apply in the EU from 2035.

Purely electrically powered vehicles are allowed to be declared with 0 CO₂ emissions in the EU. However, given that electricity produced in the EU causes an average of 250 to 300 grams of CO₂ per kWh, zero CO₂ emissions for electric vehicles seems like a cheat. Coal still accounts for 70% of electricity production in Poland, which is equivalent to 700 to 800 grams of CO₂ per kWh. Thus, an electric vehicle in Poland that consumes 15 kWh per 100 kilometers produces over 1 ton of CO₂-eq per 10,000 kilometers, not zero CO₂ emissions. On average, electric cars in the EU are more efficient than vehicles with combustion engines. The future will show which form of alternative drive will prevail, probably a mixture of green produced hydrogen, electric vehicles, or green e-fuels.

Electric cars are not new, as tens of thousands of e-cars were already whirring through the world's cities at the turn of the century. Even Kaiser Wilhelm drove a Mercedes Electrique. By 1912, e-cars were being produced in almost all industrialized nations. One hundred years ago, 60,000 battery-powered vehicles were on the road in the United States of America, and in New York, they accounted for 40% of traffic.

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