Transport is Europe's biggest climate problem accounting for 27% of its GHG emissions in 2017. Transport pollution is causing the illness and premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of Europeans. Meanwhile the EU spends over 200 billion a year importing oil to power its transport fleet.

This report is part of the ‘Trends and Projections in Europe: 2018: Tracking progress towards Europe’s climate and energy targets,’ package. It is based on the most recent reported and approximated data from EU Member States on greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy uptake and energy consumption.

Transport is Europe’s biggest source of carbon emissions, contributing 27% to the EU’s total CO2 emissions, with cars representing 45% of these. Transport is also the only sector in which emissions have grown since 1990, driving an increase in the EU’s overall emissions in 2017.

With an impressive development progress over the past two decades, the countries of the Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) are primed for significant economic and social growth. Climate change, however, threatens to undermine decades of development gains and put at risk efforts to eradicate poverty.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) produces annual air pollution health risk assessments at the European level. These give an objective and comparable estimate of the impacts of air pollution on the population’s health. This briefing provides an overview of the methodology followed in the assessments.