Vehicle emissions
Key Finding
Emissions from motor vehicles are a function of many factors, but most importantly total travel, fleet mix and emission control technology and driving behaviour.
Motor vehicles are a major source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Emission estimates have been generated for 226 vehicle classes, 116 pollutants and different types of emissions (hot running, cold start, evaporative, non-exhaust), using the Computer Programme to calculate Emissions from Road Transport (COPERT) Australian software.
Ambient air pollution is a complex and dynamic mixture of thousands of specific air pollutants in the outdoor air, which can occur in gaseous or particulate form. The following is the total annual emission estimates for selected air pollutants for Queensland in 2010:
- Carbon monoxide (CO): 159,239 tonnes/annum
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): 20,844 tonnes/annum
- Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx): 68,141 tonnes/annum
- Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5µm (PM2.5): 2,546 tonnes/annum
- Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10µm (PM10): 3,108 tonnes/annum
- Benzene: 750 tonnes/annum
- Toluene: 1,540 tonnes/annum
- Xylenes: 1,595 tonnes/annum
- Formaldehyde: 390 tonnes/annum
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Benzo(a)pyrene-equivalents): 0.3 tonnes/annum.
More information:
Relevant Sustainable Development Goals’ targets
Download data from Queensland Government data
Metadata
Estimate of annual vehicle emissions for selected air pollutants from the 2010 base year.