Opinion by Jos Dings - T&E Director
Did we miss something? Last year, the European Commission didn’t propose a single new legislative measure to clean up transport. To be fair, it has been spending most of its time worrying about the future of the Eurozone. As a result, for T&E this was the sort of year where seeds for smarter transport policy were sown. We’re optimistic that next year could bring a decent crop of positive changes.
Efforts to reduce climate emissions from road freight transport were given a boost last month when the Commission suggested the introduction of carbon dioxide emissions standards for the first time. The idea has been floated in a communication on clean and energy-efficient vehicles, which concentrates mainly on setting a framework for the development of electric cars.
Research by the respected Dutch consultancy CE Delft has shown that carbon dioxide emissions from road transport could be reduced by 30% if motorway speed limits in the Netherlands were set at 80 km/h.
The EU’s new climate change commissioner is promising an initiative on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from lorries, and says the existing agreement to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars could be tightened to provide greater incentives to car makers.
The Commission is expected to act this month to close a gap in EU legislation by limiting carbon dioxide emissions from road transport. It is putting the final touches to proposals to tighten environmental standards for vans and light trucks, but the car makers’ lobby is fighting to get the proposals weakened, while environmental groups fear that some large cars could be reclassified as small trucks to allow the makers to be less strict about emissions.
The Commission has rejected several suggestions by MEPs to make the forthcoming revised EU law on tyre labelling easier for the public to understand.
Measures to cut fuel consumption and noise through better tyres have moved a step closer, and must now await next month's European Parliament elections.
Motorists should soon be able to get more information on which tyres cut their fuel consumption, which improve their safety and which are quieter, following a vote in the European Parliament's industry committee last month.
The head of the European Environment Agency says transport trends are still 'pointing in the wrong direction'. She was speaking as the EEA issued a report saying greenhouse gas emissions from transport in the EU have increased by 36% from 1990-2006.