Growing Popularity Of SUVs Complicates Efforts To Reign In Auto Emissions
- Date: 22-Jan-2021
- Source: Forbes
- Sector:Transport
- Country:Middle East
Growing Popularity Of SUVs Complicates Efforts To Reign In Auto Emissions
SUVs (left) are rapidly outselling sedans (right), their smaller and more fuel-efficient ... [+] predecessors.
MotorTrend
SUVs are conquering the world. That's a problem for efforts to reign in emissions from the global transportation sector, which accounts for roughly 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
For the first time ever in the U.S. last year, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) likely accounted for half or just over half of all vehicles sold, according to recent data from IHS Markit, a data and analytics firm. Others are rapidly catching up. Between 2010 and 2019, the share of SUVs in overall car sales in China jumped from 14% to 44%. In In Europe the SUV share climbed from 10% to 36%.
The SUV's popularity is effectively negating the annual fuel efficiency gains from better technology and tightening fuel economy standards. The average fuel efficiency increases of light-duty vehicles per year has slowed to only around 1.3% in recent years — down from the roughly 2% per year in the handful of years prior, and well below the roughly 3% needed merely to keep total global emissions from cars from rising.