Final answer:
Transportation's reliance on fossil fuels leads to significant carbon emissions, and while efforts are being made to switch to cleaner fuels and improve efficiency, firms prioritize cost-effective measures. Governmental policies like carbon taxes can further promote reductions in emissions. However, companies sometimes downplay their true environmental impact.
Step-by-step explanation:
Environmental Costs of Transportation
The consumption of fossil fuels for transportation is a significant source of emissions, contributing to 28.2% of total emissions in the United States in 2018. More than half of these emissions originated from passenger cars and light-duty trucks.
To mitigate these environmental costs, efforts include shifting to low-carbon fuels, enhancing fuel efficiency, and minimizing the necessity for travel through strategic urban planning, telecommuting, and encouraging bicycling and walking.
Efforts to Reduce Carbon Footprint
Firms are motivated to reduce pollution where it is most cost-efficient, utilizing the least expensive methods available. Economic motivations such as high costs of importing oil and carbon footprint concerns have propelled advancements in fuel economy standards and a transition towards using domestic energy sources like electricity and biofuels.
Nevertheless, meaningful reductions often require government intervention, like imposing a carbon tax, to make pollution economically undesirable. Unfortunately, companies may not always fully disclose the environmental impacts of their operations, suggesting a gap between public image and environmental reality.