Europe is set to save 20 million tonnes of CO2 this year as more electric cars being hit the road, new T&E analysis shows.

The latest State of European Transport report reveals that transport emissions are structurally falling, but carbon savings from reduced emissions on the road are being undermined by growth in air travel.

Europe’s transport sector emitted 1.05 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2024 down from 1.1 billion tonnes in 2019, a five per cent drop. Electric cars are largely responsible for this. The number of battery electric vehicles in the EU car fleet has seen a steep rise with T&E predicting that there will be close to nine million of them on Europe’s roads by the end of the year. Without the switch to EVs, an additional 20 million tonnes of CO2 would be released.

T&E’s latest analysis also shows that by 2030, over its lifetime an EV will only consume 20 litres of materials for its battery versus over 12,400 litres of fuel for a combustion engine car. In 2024.

William Todts, executive director at T&E, said: “The EU’s green policies are beginning to bite. Thanks to the switch to EVs, we are starting to see a structural decline in transport emissions. Europe is slowly releasing itself from its dependence on oil, but we are still spending hundreds of billions on imports from overseas powers. Now is not the time to roll back green measures. For the continent’s prosperity and security, now is the time to double down.”

Despite progress, Europe is still heavily reliant on imports with 96 per cent of its crude oil and 90 per cent of its natural gas coming from overseas. While Europe remains reliant on imports for key materials in the production of batteries like lithium (100 per cent), nickel (75 pe cent) and aluminium (58 per cent), the big difference is that metals can be recycled.

As emissions from cars are set to fall, aviation emissions continue to rise. Europe’s airlines emitted 143 Mt of CO2 last year, up nearly 10 per cent compared to 2023. Emissions from Europe’s shipping activity remain stubbornly high at 195 Mt CO2e, as both sectors are heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

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