The Transportation Accord of the UN Environmental Accords includes Public Transportation, Clean Vehicles, and Reducing Congestion.

Mechanized transportation methods cause serious damage to our air, land, water and quality of life. Improving transportation efficiency through maximizing public transportation, reducing transportation emissions and congestion and reducing the number of single occupancy vehicles can have a beneficial impact on our air quality, save us time and reduce the use of natural resources.

The transportation sector accounted for almost 28% of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2004, according to Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, published in 2006 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From 1990 to 2004, GHG emissions from the transportation sector increased at the fastest rate of any end-use economic sector in the United States and accounted for the largest absolute increase of any of these sectors. The largest sources of U.S. transportation GHG emissions continued to be light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty trucks, and aircraft.

Local governments can make progress in this area by promoting and supporting public transportation and by “greening” their vehicle fleets and facilitating the greening of private fleets.