Throughout the world, more sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are monitored on the roads.

This is despite the predictions of the United Nations from an inevitable axis towards smaller and more environmentally friendly vehicles due to the urgency of the climate crisis and the growing cost of living.

This axis was not achieved: globally, 54 % of the cars sold in 2024 SUVs, including gasoline, diesel, hybrid and electricity. This is an increase of three percentage points from 2023 and five percentage points from the previous year, according to L. Globaldata.

Among the SUVs are now on the road – the new and most emerging models – 95 % burning fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

However, the manufacturers say that their new fleet of these cars has become increasingly electric, and that not all SUVs are now being sold that cause an increase in emissions.

SUVs are difficult to miss. They are heavy and larger with wide interior designs, removing the highest floor, high driving mode with a better vision of the road, although smaller versions are also on the market.

Environmental activists such as Greenpeace believe that the SUV is one of the bad guys in the climate crisis and they argue that their manufacture consumes large resources given their size.

Experts also say they require larger batteries to operate their electrical versions, which increases the demand for critical minerals, which increases the pressure on the planet.

It was believed that momentum with electric cars was smaller energy -saving. But sales of standard electric car (EVS) has already decreased in major markets such as Japan and Germany, and its sales growth in India have slowed.

In Europe, SUV sales surpassed EVS sales despite the indicators for more than half a decade of the opposite direction. In Europe in 2018, 3.27 million small hatchbacks – both are backed by fossil fuels and those that were sold at a time when 2.13 million were sold in 2024, according to what it said. Globaldata.

“This is partly due to the alternatives to the SUV that is offered in the smallest [sizes] The sales in Europe now grew to nearly 2.5 million in 2024 from 1.5 million in 2018. “

China witnessed the largest sales of about 11.6 million SUVs in 2024, followed by the United States, India and Germany, according to Globalta.

Industry experts say that the purchasing power of people is improving in many emerging economies, which makes SUVs choose the car.

“The manufacturers respond to the demand for consumers, increasingly, drivers are attracted to dual vehicles for purposes due to their practical presence, comfort and a good view of the road,” said Mike Huse, who is the CEO of the SMMT manufacturers.

Auto analysts also say that manufacturers are attracted to high profit margins of SUVs: they can earn more money from SUVs although they make fewer vehicles.

“It is the industry that has paid demand through huge marketing and advertising campaigns in recent years,” said Dodley Cortis, Director of Communications at the European Transportation Council.

“SUVs for Industry showed a simple way to charge a vehicle to do the same [as others]He said.

Because of the strong growth in SUV sales, IEA says that oil consumption of these vehicles has increased by 600,000 barrels per day in the world between 2022 and 2023, which represents more than a quarter of the annual height of global oil demand.

The Apostle Petrolek, a modern energy with IEA, said: “If it is ranked among the countries, the World SUVs will be the fifth largest emitter in the world in carbon dioxide, which exceeds the emissions of Japan and various other major economies.”

The agency says that even when compared to medium -sized cars that work on gasoline and diesel, SUVs are burned by 20 % of these fuel because they reach 300 kg on average.

In fact, land transport is responsible for more than 12 % of global carbon emissions and is the main engine of global warming. Scientists say that all sectors should be pampered quickly if we want to avoid climate disaster.

But industrial representatives say in response to this that not all SUVs are now being sold that cause an increase in emissions.

“About two in five of these [new] “Vehicle models are zero emissions, as their body type gives way to electrification with a longer battery range that can reassure consumers interested in shipping access.”

“This has led to the average carbon dioxide emissions for new dual cars more than half since 2000, which helped this sector to drive the process of transporting roads in the United Kingdom.”

Although the vast majority of new SUVs are still burning fossil fuels, European Union officials said that more than 20 % of the SUVs that were sold in 2023 were fully electric, up from 2 % in 2018.

As for the hybrid that can work on both electric fuel and fossil fuel, a study in Europe was found by the International Council for Conscious Transport in 2022, about 30 % of the total distance driven by spatial hybrid electric vehicles (all types including SUVs) in the electric situation on average.

Similar results are found in other major economies such as the United States and China.

In general, some experts have caused the emergence of SUVs, and it caused a large relapse in the carbon removal process in the transport sector.

The Latin Federation Authority said: “The trend towards heavier and less efficient vehicles such as SUVs (in the countries that happen) has significantly canceled the improvements in energy consumption and emissions made elsewhere in the world’s passenger fleet.”

The Climate Change Committee in the UK parliament has achieved a similar discovery in its report on the year 2024 about the country’s carbon’s removal.