Study Shows Gas Emissions are Still Rising Worldwide, Thanks to Popularity of Big SUVs

There are many pros to owning an SUV: broader visibility, more space, and better road versatility. Of course, if we look at the other side of the coin here, having such a huge size can have one big downside--and that is higher gas emissions.

According to the World Energy Outlook report that will be published this November 13, worldwide gas emissions are still up despite the automakers' efforts in improving their products' fuel efficiency. And the reason? "Consumers are buying ever larger and less fuel-efficient cars, known as Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs)."

What's more alarming, however, is that this trend is 'universal'. The International Agency (IEA)  reported these key facts:

• Almost half of all cars sold in the United States are SUVs.
• One-third of the cars sold in Europe are SUVs.
• China considers SUVs as symbols of wealth and status.
• India's preference for SUVs is changing now, as people are starting to afford SUVs.
• Africa, which is undergoing rapid changes, is now looking to premium and luxury vehicles to keep up with their urbanization and economic development.

When taken together, it only means one thing: more gas emissions in the environment--hence, more pollution.

The report also stated that the "global fleet of SUVs has seen its emissions growing by nearly 0.55 Gt CO2 during the last decade to roughly 0.7 Gt CO2. As a consequence, SUVs were the second-largest contributor to the increase in global CO2 emissions since  2010 after the power sector, but ahead of heavy industry (including iron & steel, cement, aluminum), as well as trucks and aviation."

The bigger the size, the more demand for fuel

IEA explained that SUVs use up about a quarter more energy than medium-sized cars. And the rising demand of SUVs since the beginning of the decade has made the demand for oil (or fuel) to increase in size. In fact, these utility vehicles are "responsible for the 3.3 million barrels a day growth in oil demand from passenger cars between 2010 and 2018." This is true despite the efficiency improvements that have been made in smaller cars over the years, which has already saved over 2 million barrels a day.

The report emphasized how SUV's rising demand may slow down the development of clean and efficient car fleets, and predicted that SUVs would add nearly "nearly 2 million barrels a day in global oil demand by 2040" if consumer demand for SUV continues to grow at a similar pace seen in the last decade. As a result, this would cancel out savings on fuel from nearly 150 million electric cars.