|
By Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
A new study released Monday reports that 15% of the
manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere comes from cars,
trucks, airplanes, trains, and ships. This is the first study to
specifically measure the impact of transportation on global greenhouse gas
emissions.
The remaining 85% of atmospheric CO2 comes from
industry, buildings and agriculture, the report said.
The study was led by Jan Fuglestvedt and other scientists at the Center for International Climate and Environmental
Research in Oslo.
The scientists reported that within the transport
sector, road transportation (cars, buses and trucks) contribute the most
greenhouse gases, which includes CO2, ozone, methane, and others.
And while the transport sector is responsible for a
growing share of global emissions, many of the gases emitted by
transportation aren't covered by regulations from the Kyoto Protocol. The
study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Elisabeth Holland, a senior scientist at the National Center
for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, who was not part of the study,
was impressed with the research: "This is a comprehensive study," she
says, "that takes a careful look at how all the emissions from the
transport sector are handled."
| Posted
|
| Updated
|
|
E-mail
| Save
| Print
|
|
| To report corrections and
clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent
Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send
comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include
name, phone number, city and state for
verification. |
Conversation guidelines:
USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related
to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep
the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.
|