According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation overtook electricity generation in 2017 as the economic sector responsible for the most carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions.
Transportation-related emissions were responsible for more than a quarter of all emissions in 2019. And while emissions from the sector dropped in 2020 due to people staying home during the pandemic, it remained one of the top emissions sources.
In 2019, the most recent year for which state emissions data by economic sector is available, transportation accounted for more than 40% of emissions in 12 states. Hawaii's share was the highest at 48%. On the other end are Wyoming and North Dakota, where less than 10% of emissions came from traveling.
Emissions in the US peaked in the early to mid-2000s and are near early 1990s levels. At the state-level, Alaska's and Oregon's emissions doubled between 1990 and 2019, while emissions in Maine are dropped by more than 60%.
Texas is the leading emissions producer in the US, accounting for 15% of greenhouse gases in 2019.
