When cycling or walking, you have chosen some of the most climate-friendly modes of transport. But they are not always useful for going to Ikea, the recycling centre, or doing the weekly groceries, and this is where most of us grab the car.
This is reflected in the accounts of the Danish transport sector's carbon emissions, with road transport accounting for about 90 per cent, cf. the Danish Energy Agency. About two-thirds of road emissions come from passenger cars, while the remaining third comes from trucks, busses, and vans.
In Denmark, the passenger car is the means of transport that people use the most, according to the Danish National Travel Survey, which is prepared by DTU. The latest study shows that in 2023, passenger cars accounted for 73 per cent of all the kilometres we travelled domestically.
Errands and chores in our spare time are our most common transport reasons, with shopping being the main purpose. Only a quarter of Danes' travel are due to commuting to our work or education. However, we still like to use our car: 65 per cent of our trips to and from work are made by car.
We drive longer
Passenger cars take up a lot of space - both on the roads and in the CO2 accounts. Carbon emissions from road transport have – apart from a few outliers – remained fairly constant in recent decades, despite the fact that cars have become more energy-efficient.
"The carbon emission reductions that cars' increased energy efficiency should have produced have just made Danes take longer trips. The number of trips we make by car has remained virtually unchanged, but the number of kilometres we travel has changed: Now we go for longer trips. This has led to our driving emitting as much CO2 as we did 30 years ago," says Hjalmar Christiansen, Senior Executive Officer at DTU Management and Project Manager of the Danish National Travel Survey.
Another reason why efficiency improvements in the fuel economy of cars have not resulted in major reductions in emissions is that we gradually have chosen larger and more comfortable cars with, for example, air conditioning, so the energy consumption of the cars thus remains high.
Last but not least, the increasing transport volume also reflects the fact that the Danish population is increasing, and more and more people need transport.
