In the last 4 years, the transportation sector has overtaken the power sector as the major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it is expected to continue to be the dominant sector for emissions into the future. In contrast to the power sector, transportation faces substantially more challenges to reducing GHG emissions. This article will examine those barriers and then review three major strategies to reduce emissions in this sector. They include: (a) substantially improve the fuel economy of the passenger light vehicle fleet; (b) advance the usage of emerging alternatively‐fueled light vehicles, particularly electric vehicles, while reducing their GHG emissions; and (c) invest in and modernize public transportation to increase its use substantially. This article is categorized under: Energy and Transport > Economics and Policy Energy and Climate > Climate and Environment Energy Policy and Planning > Climate and Environment

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The electricity sector is undergoing rapid and dramatic change. The momentum of sustainable energy technologies and business model innovation is giving rise to a "polycentric" framework of policy innovation and action organized by institutions that support customer choice and give customers the means to become electricity generators and service providers in their own right. These local experiments will have to deliver transformative change, flexibly address the electricity sector's legacy of political and administrative complexity, achieve scale and financial sustainability, and enable greater and wider stakeholder participation and choice. This article reviews the evidence to date of the importance of these experiments and examines three innovators-municipal utilities, community choice aggregators, and the sustainable energy utility-to gauge the capacity of pioneers to address climate-driven and other challenges in the electricity market.

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