, Columnist
Are SUVs Cooking the Planet?
They’re the second-biggest contributor to the rise in CO2 emissions, but that’s not the whole story.
Bigger cars mean greater emissions.
Photographer: Tim Boyle/Getty Images
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A worldwide preference for bigger, heavier cars has led to a nearly sixfold increase in the number of SUVs on the road since 2010 — and made them the second-biggest contributor to the rise in carbon dioxide emissions, the International Energy Agency reported this week. Only power generation is causing a bigger increase in emissions.
SUVs are also the reason that oil demand from passenger cars has grown by 3.3 million barrels a day since 2010, while oil use from other kinds of cars has declined slightly.