Road sector emissions dominate transport emissions, with light-duty vehicles accounting for the bulk of emissions globally, according to a report released by the International Transport Forum at the OECD for its annual global mobility summit on "Transport and Innovation" to be held in Leipzig, Germany, from May 26-28.

In some of the International Transport Forum's 52 member countries, road freight accounts for up to 40 percent of road sector CO2 emissions. Emissions from global aviation and international shipping, respectively, accounted for 2.5 percent and 3 percent of total CO2 emissions in 2007 and are the fastest-growing sources of transport CO2 emissions.

Across the economy, the crisis of 2008 has contributed to the sharpest drop in emissions in the past 40 years, with estimates ranging from 3 percent to 10 percent. This could translate into a 5-percent to 8-percent decrease in 2020 emissions from their pre-crisis projected levels, depending on the strength of the economic recovery.

Despite countries gaining some breathing room due to the post-crisis drop in GHG emissions, fundamental drivers for increased transport sector CO2 emissions remain and necessitate coordinated policies to limit future emissions, the report states. Some countries, notably France, Germany and Japan, have seen their road CO2 emissions stabilize or decrease even before the recession of 2008-2009, despite economic and road freight growth over the same period.

Detailed country-by-country data is available at www.internationaltransportforum.org/statistics/CO2/index.html.

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