The negative impact on the climate from passenger vehicles, which is considerable, could have dropped by more than 30% over the past decade if not for the world s appetite for large cars, a new report from the Global Fuel Economy Initiative suggests. Sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, now account for more than half of all new car sales across the globe, the group said. The International Energy Agency, using a narrower definition of SUV, estimates they make up nearly half. Over the years these cars have gotten bigger and so has their cost to the climate in the form of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. For gas-powered cars, the carbon that goes in at the pump comes out the tailpipe.
The negative impact on the climate from passenger vehicles, which is considerable, could have dropped by more than 30% over the past decade if not for the world s appetite for large cars, a new report from the Global Fuel Economy Initiative suggests. Sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, now account for more than half of all new car sales across the globe, the group said. The International Energy Agency, using a narrower definition of SUV, estimates they make up nearly half. Over the years these cars have gotten bigger and so has their cost to the climate in the form of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. For gas-powered cars, the carbon that goes in at the pump comes out the tailpipe.