Canada_ (Commonwealth) _ Sport-utility vehicles are becoming more and more popular, but a recent poll shows how little SUV owners actually use the increased storage room and towing capabilities. SUVs are well-liked for their tough, go-anywhere, do-anything capabilities. They are often bigger and heavier than ordinary automobiles. They thus emit greater emissions overall.
According to the International Energy Agency, the 330 million SUVs in use globally emit close to 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (IEA). By contrast, Canada produced 672 million tonnes worth of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in 2020. Andréanne Brazeau, a climate policy specialist with the Quebec-based environmental organization Équiterre, stated, “We want to have individuals think about their requirements when it comes to their vehicle choices.
That was the rationale behind a recent study on driving behaviors in Quebec, which was conducted by the Montreal-based interuniversity research center CIRANO for Équiterre and with money from the federal government. Leger Opinion was used in the survey to conduct an online poll of 1,020 Quebec drivers between June and July 2022. SUVs were the most popular automobile among those polled, with 47% of them claiming to be their primary mode of transportation.
According to Brazeau, the popularity of SUVs is on the rise. Not only do the cars create more pollution overall than smaller sedans, but they are also riskier for pedestrians. According to the most recent official inventory of sources of greenhouse gases, SUVs and other light-duty gasoline trucks created 30% higher greenhouse gas emissions per kilometer in 2020 than automobiles on average.
The IEA estimates that they use around a quarter less gasoline than a typical automobile. Yet interest in the cars keeps growing. Although though worldwide auto sales fell in 2022, SUV sales continued to rise. The IEA estimated that 46% of all cars sold globally in 2022 were SUVs.
