Drivers of transport consumption

  • At EU level, the energy consumption of transport decreased by 9 Mtoe between 2019 and 2022. 
  • Two factors contributed to lower consumption: a drop in traffic of passenger and goods ("activity effect"), that contributed to decrease this consumption by 13 Mtoe and energy savings (i.e. change in the efficiency of cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.), that reduced consumption by 8 Mtoe. 
  • These effects were partially counterbalanced by the modal shift, i.e. changes in the share of transport mode in the total traffic, that contributed to an increase by 1 Mtoe (mainly due to higher share of cars) and by other effects (+10 Mtoe), mainly explained by lower occupancy rates for passenger transport (cars and public transport).   

Drivers of energy consumption variation in transport at EU level (2019-2022)


  • Between 2000 and 2019, the energy consumption of transport increased by 30 Mtoe at EU level.
  • The rise in traffic contributed to increase this consumption by 48 Mtoe and "modal shift" by around 6 Mtoe. Other effects, mainly behavioral effects, also contributed to increase the consumption (around 7 Mtoe) (decrease in load factor, driving behavior). 
  • "Energy savings" partially counterbalanced these effects, leading to a decrease by 30 Mtoe of transport energy consumption. 

Drivers of energy consumption variation in transport at EU level (2000-2019)