Paper
The conventional narrative of the second Trump administration simply repudiating multilateralism is incomplete. The record to date is far more mixed and varies across issue areas and institutions.
Gustavo Romero, Stewart Patrick
{
"authors": [],
"type": "pressRelease",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "SCP",
"programs": [
"Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics"
],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"United States",
"North America"
],
"topics": [
"Climate Change"
]
}
REQUIRED IMAGE
Press Release
Governments must take lead to reduce transportation's climate effects
On-road transportation has the greatest negative effect on climate of any economic sector, especially in the short term. Cutting on-road transportation climate and air-pollutant emissions would be unambiguously good for the climate and public health, writes Deborah Gordon in a new paper.
Published on Dec 16, 2010
WASHINGTON, December 16—On-road transportation has the greatest negative effect on climate of any economic sector, especially in the short term. Cutting on-road transportation climate and air-pollutant emissions would be unambiguously good for the climate and public health, writes Deborah Gordon in a new paper. She calls on policy makers to reform the transportation sector in a way that reduces carbon emissions and increases efficiency. This is necessary for the United States to maintain its leadership position in the global economy.
Key Recommendations:
- Understand transportation’s unique threat. Transportation’s nearly exclusive use of petroleum fuel results in high levels of the principal gases causing warming and minimal emissions of the short-term cooling agents that counterbalance warming.
- Transition to near-zero emissions. The United States and other nations must quickly move to using cars and trucks that emit as few climate-warming gases as possible, largely through low-carbon electrification for plug-in vehicles.
- Change the transportation culture. A focus on technological innovation, rational pricing, and sound investments that expand low-carbon mobility choices will help fundamentally transform vehicles, fuels, and travel behavior.
The on-road transportation sector is clearly “a major contributor to climate change; therefore, it should be the focus of new policies to mitigate warming,” Gordon writes. “Government must lead this effort as the market alone cannot precipitate the transition away from cars and oil, which dominate this sector.”
NOTES
Deborah Gordon is a nonresident senior associate in Carnegie’s Energy and Climate Program, where her research focuses on climate, energy, and transportation issues in the United States and China. Since 1996 she has been an author and policy consultant specializing in transportation, energy, and environmental policy for non-profit, foundation, academic, public, and private sector clients. From 1996 to 2000 she co-directed the Transportation and Environment Program at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and from 1989 to 1996 she founded and then directed the Transportation Policy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She is the author of Two Billion Cars (Oxford University Press, January 2009).
The Carnegie Energy & Climate Program engages global experts working in energy technology, environmental science, and political economy to develop practical solutions for policy makers around the world. The program aims to provide the leadership and the policy framework necessary for minimizing risks stemming from global climate change and reducing competition for scarce resources.
Press Contact: David Kampf, 202-939-2233, pressoffice@ceip.org
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Retreat, Rebel, Replace, or Reform? Making Sense of Multilateralism Under Trump 2.0
- China Is Building New Financial Architecture for Clean Energy Tech. It May Come with Conditions.Article
China’s central bank swap lines could help developing world leaders drive their energy transition—if they harness conditionality to protect their interests.
Ebipere K. Clark
- From Trade Dependence to Geopolitical Leverage: The EU in an Era of Weaponized InterdependencePaper
As geopolitical rivalry weaponizes global supply chains, the EU’s true vulnerability lies in emerging-risk imports. For these goods, suppliers are growing more concentrated, substitution more difficult, and political risk is looming.
Sinan Ülgen
- Reimagining Disaster Response in the Age of Chaotic AusterityArticle
It’s the early days of a new architecture for disaster recovery. Now is the time to build a better, more adaptive funding ecosystem.
Sarah Labowitz, Katie Mears
- Next Steps Toward Peace After the Armenian ElectionsCommentary
It’s time to build momentum, and Ankara is the venue of the next opportune diplomatic window to do this.
Alper Coşkun, Garo Paylan
