T&E has called for the EU to adopt a ‘climate rating’ scheme that would assess all transport infrastructure projects for their contribution to climate change before they are given EU funding. The call comes in the run-up to the review of guidelines for the EU to part-fund transport projects, and has involved T&E commissioning a study that provides the outline of a climate rating system.
A damaging report has revealed that the Canadian government has been deliberately trying to attack European climate change policies that would force producers of oil extracted from tar sands to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Commission is taking steps towards a first EU directive aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from heavy goods vehicles. Its consultation on the weight and dimensions of lorries comes as more evidence emerges about the positive effect of mandatory emissions standards from new cars.
A report for the Commission by the London-based consultancy AEA Technology confirms T&E’s findings that car prices have decreased since the introduction of obligatory CO2 limits for new cars.
An advisory body to the German government says the country should not increase imports of crops for biofuels or it will contribute to hunger in developing countries.
Austria’s transport policy suffered another setback in December when the European Court of Justice said a ban on dirty lorries on part of the A12 motorway through the Tyrol region was illegal.
Researchers have identified more evidence that climate-friend means of transport are good for health as well as the environment.
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to food has called for an urgent rethink in EU biofuels policy before too much investment is made on the back of unsustainable biofuels targets. His comments come as more evidence emerges that biofuels may be a poor means of tackling climate change.
The IMO’s mandatory efficiency measures for ships, agreed in July, could save ship operators $50 billion a year by 2020.
The ‘Durban Platform’ may become as commonly known as the Kyoto Protocol, following a loose agreement at this month’s Durban climate change summit on a plan to work towards a global climate strategy. The plan is to agree the strategy by 2015 and for it to start in 2020.