En-en adult card 4 transportation

Card #4: Transportation

Causes		Consequences
Human activities		Fossil Fuels Aerosols

The transportation sector is highly dependent on oil.
It accounts for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Explanations

15% is not much, but it varies a lot depending on the country and lifestyle. In Western countries, the share of transportation, especially air travel, can account for a significant part of people's carbon footprint. If you take one or more long haul flights a year, that's the bulk of your carbon footprint.

Correction

Causes

• Human activities

Consequences

• Fossil fuels
• Aerosols

Other possible links

Possible consequences

• Deforestation Road construction sometimes requires deforestation, but the one-dimensional aspect of the road makes it almost negligible compared to deforestation linked to agriculture.

To go further

French energy mix

In France, transport is the leading GHG emitting sector with 28% of emissions.

The individual car represents 67% of the carbon footprint of transport, which is huge!

France's energy mix is 70% dominated by nuclear power, which is a low carbon energy (hydraulic 11%, fossil fuels 8%...) (Electricity represents only 24% of the energy consumed in France. ). Therefore, an electric car in France will emit less CO₂ than a fossil fuel car, but in the calculation of emissions per kilometre, the emissions linked to the manufacture of the car must be included. So it's better, but it's not zero emissions, as some advertisements would suggest.

Some figures

• A round trip from New York to Paris emits the equivalent of two tonnes of CO₂, which is the annual amount of carbon that the average French person should reach in 2050, in just two days.