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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Façade-Level Monitoring of CO2 Variability under Urban Heat Island Conditions using Low-Cost Sensor Data Loggers

Façade-Level Monitoring of CO₂ Variability under Urban Heat Island Conditions using Low-Cost Sensor Data Loggers

Published on: December 12, 2025

Climate forcing from the transport sectors.

Jan Fuglestvedt¹, Terje Berntsen, Gunnar Myhre

¹Center for International Climate and Environmental Research-Oslo, P.O. Box 1129 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo, Norway. j.s.fuglestvedt@cicero.uio.no

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|January 9, 2008

Summary

The transport sector significantly impacts climate change, contributing substantially to CO2 and ozone forcing. Road transport is the largest warming contributor, with many emissions not covered by the Kyoto Protocol.

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Façade-Level Monitoring of CO2 Variability under Urban Heat Island Conditions using Low-Cost Sensor Data Loggers

Façade-Level Monitoring of CO₂ Variability under Urban Heat Island Conditions using Low-Cost Sensor Data Loggers

Published on: December 12, 2025

Area of Science:

Environmental science
Climate science
Atmospheric chemistry

Background:

The transport sector is a major and increasing source of global emissions impacting climate.
Quantifying the sector's total climate forcing has been challenging.
Emissions from transport, including road, shipping, aviation, and rail, have significant radiative effects.

Purpose of the Study:

To comprehensively analyze the radiative forcing from all major transport subsectors.
To assess both historical and future contributions of transport to climate forcing.
To identify the primary drivers of warming and cooling within the transport sector.

Main Methods:

Analysis of radiative forcing from road transport, shipping, aviation, and rail subsectors.
Utilizing both past (since preindustrial times) and future (100-year integrated net forcing) perspectives.
Quantifying contributions of CO2, ozone (O3), methane (CH4) lifetime changes, and aerosols.

Main Results:

Transport contributed ~15% of man-made CO2 forcing and ~31% of man-made O3 forcing since preindustrial times.
Current transport emissions account for ~16% of the 100-year integrated net forcing from all anthropogenic emissions.
Road transport is the largest contributor to warming, primarily via CO2 and O3. Shipping causes net cooling, except over multi-century timescales.

Conclusions:

The transport sector's climate impact is substantial and multifaceted, involving both warming and cooling effects.
CO2 and tropospheric O3 are the dominant warming agents from transport.
A significant portion of transport's climate forcing originates from emissions not regulated by the Kyoto Protocol.