Global road transport emissions to peak in 2025: study [Video]

CO2 emissions from road transport could peak worldwide this year thanks to rapid growth in electric vehicles and stricter new regulations, a German think tank said Tuesday.

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) estimated that vehicle emissions would top out at around nine gigatonnes in 2025, a quarter-century earlier than previously predicted.

The volume of emissions would then decline to 7.1 gigatonnes in 2050, the ICCT calculated in a scenario based on environmental rules as of August 2024.

The organisation’s previous forecast, which used regulatory conditions in 2021, predicted a peak in road transport emissions in 2050.

The quicker turnaround was due to changing regulations in major markets that required a higher share of zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs), including battery-powered cars, in new sales, the ICCT said.

Progress in the number of cleaner vehicles already on the roads was “underpinned by the falling costs of ZEVs”, the ICCT said.

The …