Transportation is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States

In the last 4 years, the transportation sector has overtaken the power sector as the major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it is expected to continue to be the dominant sector for emissions into the future. In contrast to the power sector, transportation faces substantially more challenges to reducing GHG emissions. This article will examine those barriers and then review three major strategies to reduce emissions in this sector. They include: (a) substantially improve the fuel economy of the passenger light vehicle fleet; (b) advance the usage of emerging alternatively‐fueled light vehicles, particularly electric vehicles, while reducing their GHG emissions; and (c) invest in and modernize public transportation to increase its use substantially. This article is categorized under: Energy and Transport > Economics and Policy Energy and Climate > Climate and Environment Energy Policy and Planning > Climate and Environment