Global trends in motor vehicle use and emissions

Abstract

In 1988, the global car population exceeded 400 million for the first time in history, increasing mobility and flexibility for many additional millions of people. While currently the growth is greatest in the rapidly industrializing areas of Asia, even highly developed areas such as Western Europe have been spurred to greater new car sales records for the last several years, spurred on especially by tremendous sales in the South. Including commercial vehicles, more than one half billion vehicles are now on the world's roads - 10 times more than in 1950. One result of this growth is that cars and trucks have become the largest single source of air pollution around the world. The purpose of this paper is to review the role of motor vehicles in the worldwide air pollution problems, to summarize the status in controlling emissions from these sources around the world, and to assess the prospects for the future. -Author