Four federal agencies have devised a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector in pursuit of a net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2050.

The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization was prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to guide policy decisions and research concerning clean energy deployment in the transportation sector.

This sector accounts for a third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions, negatively affecting the health and well-being of millions of people, and transportation costs are the second largest annual household expense in the U.S. A well-planned transition to a decarbonized transportation system can address these and other inequities and provide equitable, affordable and accessible options for moving people and goods.

The blueprint provides a system-level perspective of the entire transportation system across all passenger and freight travel modes and fuels, and lays out three key strategies to achieve decarbonization:

• Increase convenience by supporting community design and land-use planning at the local and regional levels that ensure that job centers, shopping, schools, entertainment and essential services are strategically located near where people live to reduce commute burdens, improve walkability and bikeability, and improve quality of life.
• Improve efficiency by expanding affordable, accessible, efficient and reliable options like public transportation and rail, and improving the efficiency of all vehicles.
• Transition to clean options by deploying zero-emission vehicles and fuel for cars, commercial trucks, transit, boats, airplanes and more.

Further developing and deploying clean-energy technologies such as electric vehicles and hydrogen and sustainable fuels, while also building out the supporting infrastructure for clean transportation, will create good-paying jobs in all segments of the transportation sector while strengthening U.S. energy independence.