A lack of policy has allowed Australia's transportation-related emissions to rise, despite its commitment to the Paris Climate Accords to limit carbon emissions that lead to global warming.

The new report from the Climate Council accuses Australia of failing to roll out electric cars more quickly because the government hasn't come up with incentives and mandatory pollution standards to encourage their use.  It doesn't help that the Morrison government decided to ditch the national energy guarantee.

"We've been having a big national debate about electricity sector emissions," said senior climate and energy solutions analyst Petra Stock, "But (we) really wanted to draw attention to the growing problem of greenhouse gas pollution from the transport sector."

There are a number of reasons why the reported raked Australia behind Russia, Mexico, and Indonesia on transport efficiency.  Among them: high polluting cars; high car use - 87 percent of Aussies travel to work in their car - and low capital spending on public transport compared to roads.

The report also found that road-based transportation systems creates more greenhouse gas emissions in Australian than the global average.