Advances in technology have made transportation more energy efficient in recent decades, lowering emissions per mile and per unit of freight. But according to a new study, those efficiency gains haven’t been enough to offset the rise in emissions from new transportation demand. To hold transportation emissions steady going forward, the study says, global transportation demand must not continue rising, or we must make a more dramatic shift toward electrification than currently imagined.
climate change
Resilient infrastructure, responsible development can reduce insurance risk
Carolyn Kousky, founder of Insurance for Good and longtime researcher on climate impacts and insurance markets, told MIP and SSTI widespread insurance protects local economies, as well as lenders and mortgage markets. “As a warming planet increases the risks of weather-related extremes, insurance becomes harder to get and more expensive. The only long-term solution is serious investments in risk reduction and climate adaptation,” Kousky said in an email.
Severe weather is pushing up the costs of car ownership
Ford’s Model T was a groundbreaking feat of mass production—cutting car costs by more than half over the course of a decade and spurring the massive rise in automobile use across the U.S. Those days seem far behind us, according to the latest reports. Transportation costs have risen by nearly 20% since 2022, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, and car insurance in some states could rise 50% by the end of the year.
Climate change presents an opportunity for bolder transportation policies
Individuals concerned about climate change often support sustainable transportation policies, such as reducing car use or adopting new mobility solutions. Studies from Norway highlight how varying attitudes toward these types of policies can influence their effectiveness. While some groups back most transportation initiatives—whether they involve incentives or regulations—others resist any policies they perceive as restrictive. Gaining insight into these diverse attitudes, especially among those neutral toward different strategies, can help shape effective policy.
More connected street networks are more resilient
As we have seen recently with the bridge and interstate collapses in Baltimore and Pennsylvania, disruptions to our street network severely impact travel. Natural disasters, like earthquakes and floods and targeted disasters, terrorist attacks, disrupt travel patterns, raising questions about why some cities are more vulnerable to these disasters than others. Especially in urban areas, when a central street is removed from the equation, people and goods still need to move to and from destinations. A new study looks at urban areas worldwide to determine what street network characteristics make them more resilient and vulnerable before and after disasters. Areas with disconnected street design like North America and Oceania are among the most vulnerable.
Transportation is feeling the heat
Our infrastructure isn’t prepared for climate change. This summer’s record heat wave has illustrated the immediate impacts of extreme weather and temperature events on our safety and ability to travel. As climate change accelerates these extremes, we need to be prepared to enhance our infrastructure’s resilience and adaptability.
Forecasters guarded about EV share of VMT
As transportation planners and environmental researchers look at climate policies, a smooth and equitable transition to a low-carbon global economy is an essential component. In the passenger vehicle sector, how will this process be affected by oil demand and EV adoption trends? A new report examines a number of EV penetration forecasts and summarizes the 2019 trends and their changes since 2018. The report focuses on passenger vehicles, which account for about 23 percent of oil demand. While other segments of the transportation sector—trucks, and aviation and shipping—account for about 29 percent of the oil demand, electrifying cars may be easier, according to the author.
Small increases in rainfall could cause big problems for road networks
There is a lot we still don’t know about how climate change will affect transportation networks and how to make infrastructure more resilient, but new research sheds some light on these questions. A model developed to study the impacts of floods on road networks indicates that even small, localized increases in rainfall could cause widespread disruptions and road outages.
IPCC finds taxes, regulations mix most effective for vehicle emissions reductions
A new study by researchers at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy finds that in order to achieve needed reductions in vehicle-based CO2 emissions, a combination of both market-based and regulatory policies must be adopted worldwide. Furthermore, the authors find that no one singular policy, even when implemented to the extreme, can achieve reductions equivalent to several policies combined.
Anticipating the costly impacts of climate change in Hawaii
Hawaii has estimated the price tag will be $15 billion to raise, push back, or relocate highways to address concerns over rising seas levels because of climate change. High surf is already damaging some highways, and initial estimates indicate about 15 percent of all HDOT highways will be susceptible to rising sea levels.