Annual data compiled by the EEA and submitted to the UNFCCC on the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions usually leave out emissions from international shipping and aviation (so-called “bunkers”).
To complement the 2008 data, T&E wrote an analysis which includes shipping and aviation figures and aims at clarifying the actual contribution of the transport sector to the EU’s CO2 emissions.
Research by the Commission suggests transport emissions could be reduced by 89% by 2050 if all the options currently available are adopted.
A report for the German government says a range of measures, headed by traffic avoidance, needs to be adopted if transport is to make a meaningful contribution to fighting climate change. The report comes as the latest TERM report on the environmental performance of Europe’s transport shows polluting modes are still rising.
The transport sector is likely to prevent the EU from reducing its total greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, according to the results of a project set up by the Commission.
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 new European Commission sees some familiar faces in the directorates affecting transport and the environment, with a reshuffle of tasks as well as personnel.
Editorial by Kerstin Meyer, T&E Policy Officer
It was Germany’s ‘iron chancellor’ Otto von Bismarck who once said, ‘Laws are like sausages – it is better not to see them being made. This quote is not only true for the making of EU laws but also for what happens after they have been decided. Because making the law is only half the battle.
Editorial by Ulla Rasmussen, T&E President
After a long summer of uncertainty, José Manuel Barroso has been reappointed in his post of Commission president for another five years. And in his one statement on transport, he has hit the nail right on the head.
The Commission is to set up an on-line guide showing information on clean and energy-efficient vehicles.
The NGO network CEE Bankwatch says the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development urgently needs to reduce its carbon-heavy investments in new motorways and air travel, and instead promote transport that assists the transition to a low-carbon economy. Its comments come in a consultation by the Bank on how it decides its transport lending in central and eastern Europe. Bankwatch also says the Bank’s ‘private sector at just about all costs’ approach is leading to bad lending decisions, and it should ensure that railway restructuring does not become a misleading term that takes trade off the rails because of higher costs.