Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy

Explore our Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy, a plan that focuses on ways to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions.

In November 2023, we submitted the Washington State Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy (Strategy) to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). This strategy is required for the state to receive federal Carbon Reduction Program funds. FHWA has certified that our strategy meets all statutory requirements.

The Washington State Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy builds on the State Energy Strategy, which focuses on two ways to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions. Find out more about reducing transportation emissions in these fact sheets:

Read the reports

The Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy describes the policy framework for reducing future transportation carbon emissions and documents the multiple actions currently happening statewide to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions.

Washington State Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy (PDF 1.7MB)

The Transportation Carbon Reduction Technical Report evaluates how far current policies will get us towards our goals. While existing policies significantly reduce emissions, especially from light duty vehicles, the report shows that additional work is needed to improve travel efficiency and address emission from medium and heavy-duty vehicles.

Transportation Carbon Reduction Technical Report (PDF 726KB)

Learn more about the Transportation Carbon Reduction Strategy from our engagement meeting materials:

Next steps

The Carbon Reduction Program requires that this strategy be updated every four years, with the first update due to FHWA in 2027. We will begin work on the update in 2026 and look at how we can fill the gap between our existing programs and our goals.

In the meantime, we are expanding our community engagement efforts and developing additional tools to support the plan update. We will continue to engage with our partners on how best to continue these efforts.

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Learn more about work zone safety

Slow down – lives are on the line.

In 2023, speeding continued to be a top reason for work zone crashes.

Even one life lost is too many.

Fatal work zone crashes doubled in 2023 - Washington had 10 fatal work zone crashes on state roads.

It's in EVERYONE’S best interest.

95% of people hurt in work zones are drivers, their passengers or passing pedestrians, not just our road crews.