Global transportation sector CO₂ emissions shares 2023, by major economy

The United States is the largest contributor to global transportation carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, accouting for 21 percent of the global total in 2023. With 1.7 GtCO₂ produced that year, U.S. emissions from vehicles on land, sea and in the air were almost equal to the combined emissions of China and the European Union's transportation sector's.

Per capita emissions

In addition to being the biggest overall transportation polluter, the U.S. also has the highest per capita emissions among the sector’s biggest emitters. In 2023, the average American produced five tCO₂ from vehicle usage - roughly twenty times more than the average person in India. Per capita emissions were also high in neighboring Canada, where just over four tCO₂ were emitted per person.

Transportation emissions trends

While transportation emissions in North America and Europe have seen little change since the turn of the century, those in developing regions have grown rapidly. Transportation emissions in the Asia-Pacific region, for example, more than doubled between 2000 and 2023 to over two GtCO₂. Around half of the region’s emissions are produced in China, where transportation emissions have roughly quadrupled since 2000 owing to rapid economic growth.