Campaigners warn over failure to curb Europe’s ‘runaway’ transport emissions

Greenhouse gases from sector could make up 44% of continent’s total output by 2030, says transport group

The failure to tackle Europe’s “runaway” transport emissions could lead to the sector pumping out nearly half of the continent’s planet-heating pollution by 2030, a report has found.

Driven by polluting cars and pushed higher by the growing thirst for flights, transport emissions in Europe have grown 26% since 1990 – even as efforts to clean up other areas of the economy have led to an overall emissions fall.

If policies continue to clean up transport slower than other sectors, such as electricity and industry, the greenhouse gases emitted when Europeans move around could make up 44% of the continent’s total emissions by the end of the decade, according to modelling from the campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E).