PNNL

Abstract

Based on detailed national and international data on freight transportation, we analyze trends in freight CO2 emissions in 11 IEA countries from the earliest year of data availability to 2007-2009. The cross-country comparison of the freight transportation sector indicates that CO2 emissions (on a per capita basis) span a wide range and have developed in a fashion heavily dependent on local needs and without full knowledge or coordination with policies and practices in other countries. Over the last several decades, the effect of freight transport activity (measured in tonne-km) on CO2 emissions has decreased or virtually remained the same in most of the countries, helped by the ongoing shift in the structure of the economy, while the effects of energy intensity (mainly improvement in trucking energy use) and modal structure (shift towards trucking away from rail and water) have become relatively important. Trucking, in particular, has developed a major share of freight activity, energy consumption, and attendant CO2 emissions, and trucking activity has increased faster than other freight activity. Although there is a significant opportunity of reducing freight emissions by shifting toward rail, substantial shift may not occur without rail infrastructure investment and supportive transport policies.