Where We Are Now

Major regional and local decisions are taking place now regarding how we address our climate emissions in transportation. There have been recent positive steps, but a common and critical shortfall in the current and past efforts has been the failure to fully address a major greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions source – how much we drive.

This issue brief focuses on strategies to address our transportation-related climate pollution through land use, housing and travel demand strategies. These strategies receive less attention than fuel economy and electric vehicle (EV) strategies but are just as essential and also have major co-benefits for equity, sustainability, health, and livability.

Figure 1: Metropolitan Washington Greenhouse Gas Trends and Goals

Source: Image from the COG 2030 Climate and Energy Action Plan, page 3

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