Carbon in Motion 2050” for North America and Latin America

Transportation contributed nearly 25 percent of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2007. The level of emissions depends on the distances people and goods travel, the modes with which they use, the fuel consumed per kilometer moved and the CO2 associated with each fuel. Different developed countries have complied to different levels of emissions reductions targets, while developing countries are not subject to any national agreement to reduce their emissions levels. For the United States, President Obama has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions between 14 percent and 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels and has set a goal to reduce 83 percent of emissions by 2050, implying a 30 percent reduction below 2005 levels in 2025 and a 42 percent reduction below 2005 in 2030 (The White House, 2009). Meeting these targets would help prevent further increases in global temperature and environmental degradation. As this paper will show, with modest changes to current transportation trends and efficient vehicles powered by alternative fuels that release approximately a third less CO2 per unit of energy than today, CO2 emissions in 2050 will be at 2005 levels for Latin America and 50 percent of 2005 levels for North America (ICCT, 2010; Schipper et al., 2009). While this North American level is well below 1990, it is very high globally on a per capita basis