The increased popularity of SUVs has contributed to them becoming the second largest contributor to an eight-year global emissions rise.
New research has found that, between 2010 and 2018, SUVs more than doubled their market share from 17% to 39%, emitting more than 700 megatonnes of CO2 in the process.
According to analysis from The International Energy Agency (IEA), in this period the increase in SUV exhaust emissions was greater than the rise in emissions from global aviation and shipping combined.
Laura Cozzi, chief energy modeller of the IEA, said: “We were quite surprised by this result ourselves. We thought this was a trend that was more concentrated in a few countries, but it’s becoming really universal.”
