Transport is a major cause of global warming. Not only cars, increasingly widespread across the globe with their fossil fuel-fuelled and inefficient engines, but also the aviation, maritime transport and road freight sectors.
Automobile traffic is the largest growth in greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, accounting for 32% of total EU emissions in 2010, half of which are from cars. In the face of this problem, the European Union has set the target - for cars that are on sale - of an average 95 g of CO2 emissions per kilometre by 2020, a target that cannot be achieved at present. Also considering a hypothetical increase in hybrid and electric cars and the shift to smaller and less powerful cars.
Maritime transport carbon dioxide emissions per year total over 950 million tonnes, exceeding those of the whole of Britain or Canada. CO2 emissions from aviation are more than 850 million tonnes per year
Additional climate impacts from other gases (in particular nitrogen oxides, as well as water vapour and condensation trails) roughly double the effect of the emitted CO2. Aviation is responsible for 4.9% of global warming.
Overall, greenhouse gas emissions caused by aviation and international maritime transport are responsible for about 10% of global warming and are growing rapidly. However, these two sectors are not yet included in international agreements and, emissions could even triple by 2050 without appropriate interventions.