Structural factors affecting land-transport CO2 emissions: A European comparison

The increase of CO2 emissions generated by land-transport is a major policy concern of the European Union but the upward trend in transport use makes it difficult for member states to comply with Kyoto Protocol targets. This paper develops an input–output methodology to analyse the structure of CO2 emissions from land-transport and applies this to several European Union countries. It shows how production linkages between sectors and the structure of final demand affect land-transport emissions in these countries. The paper confirms the relevance of the emissions-intensity factor to explain differences in the emissions of the transport sector across countries, but also shows the importance of technology-production linkages between sectors in an economic system that has usually been neglected in the past.