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Policies to reduce emissions from the transportation sector

This brief discusses public policy tools available to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector. Reducing GHG emissions from transportation, which comprise one third of total U.S. CO2 emissions, will need to be a key part of any strategy to limit economy-wide emissions. Transportation energy use and emissions are determined by three elements: the fuels used to power the vehicles, characteristics of the vehicles themselves, and total miles traveled. Of the various transportation modes, passenger vehicles consume the most energy, followed by truck, rail and ship transport of freight, and then air travel. To reduce emissions, the sector can be included in a multi-sector cap-and-trade program or managed through sector-specific measures, or both.

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