Electric cars "save" Europe - Transport remains the biggest polluter, generating 1/3 of total CO2
A surge in electric car sales will save Europe 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) this year, according to new analysis from the Transport & Environment (T&E) group. That's equivalent to the emissions from eight coal-fired power plants and represents a positive trend in a sector that has struggled to decarbonise.
Transport is the only sector still producing more emissions than in 1990, lagging behind industry, electricity generation and buildings, as it generates around a third of the EU's pollution. But T&E's latest report on the state of European transport finds that emissions are finally falling.
"The EU's green policies are starting to pay off. Thanks to the shift to electric vehicles, we are starting to see a structural decline in transport emissions," the report's authors say.
Europe's transport sector emitted 1.05 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2024, down from 1.1 billion tonnes in 2019. This is a 5 percent drop. The use of electric vehicles is largely responsible for this, as it has grown significantly in recent years, replacing petrol and diesel alternatives.
Cars are the biggest transport polluters, emitting a total of 450 megatonnes of CO₂ emissions per year and representing 13 percent of total EU emissions.
Battery-powered electric vehicles are already three times cleaner than gasoline-powered cars and this will only improve as the electricity that powers them becomes greener.
The campaign group predicts there will be 8.8 million electric cars on the road this year, meaning one in five new cars sold in the EU will have zero emissions.
Despite progress on EU roads, pollution from aircraft is undermining efforts to cut transport emissions, researchers warn.
Europe's airlines emitted 143 Megatons of CO₂ last year, almost 10 percent more than in 2023. Emissions from Europe's maritime transport activity remain high, reaching 195 Megatons of CO2e, the report finds, as both sectors rely heavily on fossil fuels.
But with transport being included in the EU carbon market, the two sectors together will have collected €5 billion in revenue by 2024, according to T&E estimates.
These funds could be used to bridge the price gap between green fuels and traditional fossil fuels, a vital development from both a climate action and energy security perspective.
"Europe is slowly freeing itself from its dependence on oil, but we are still spending hundreds of billions on imports from overseas powers," the researchers say.
Fossil fuel imports remain the main source of energy for transport, with 96 percent of Europe's crude oil and 90 percent of natural gas coming from outside the EU as of 2023.
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