50 Steps to Taking the Carbon Emissions Out of Transportation

Tony Dutzik shares new of a new study from the Frontier Group that recommends 50 steps toward carbon-free transportation. The report focuses on the United States, acknowledging that the U.S. transportation system is "Climate Enemy #1."

Dutzik's distillation of the new report includes a lot of quotable facts and illustrative infographics, sure to be of use to those working against the car-centric status quo. For instance, Dutzik includes the following regarding the reality of the U.S. transportation system:

• "Climate change is rarely a factor in transportation decision-making. Only seven states have enforceable, economy-wide limits on carbon pollution, and, as of 2012, the vast majority of states and metropolitan planning organizations did not even consider greenhouse gas emissions in agency planning processes."
• "America spends vastly more on infrastructure for high-carbon modes of travel than low-carbon modes. Between 1956 and 2014, 79 percent of all government capital expenditures on transportation went toward highways, according to Congressional Budget Office data."
• "The federal funding match for new highway projects is generally higher, and the burden of evaluation lower, than major transit capital projects."

Luckily, the report also works from the belief that the United States has the tools to build a carbon-free transportation system, both in policy and in technology. Dutzik lists those tools and explains how each of them can contribute to the cause.