Trucks Have Made Remarkably Little Progress in Reducing Emissions

New cars, pickups, and SUVs sold in the U.S. have become remarkably more fuel-efficient, and their contributions to the national carbon footprint have declined significantly. In 1990, these vehicles represented 15.6 percent of total emissions in the U.S.; in 2014 they made up just 16.1 percent, according to a new report by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle, researchers at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. When you consider population, GDP, and car-sales growth over the same period, passenger cars have made major progress.

As an entire sector, however, transportation still has a long way to go in reducing emissions. That becomes abundantly clear when considering the growing impact of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles*. According to the same report, the share of total U.S. emissions from long-haul trucks, garbage trucks, ambulances and other types of five-ton-and-up mammoths has increased steadily and substantially, from 3.6 percent in 1990 to 6 percent in 2014. Absolute emissions from passenger vehicles leveled off over that period, but absolute emissions from heavier-duty trucks soared to 76 percent.