The idea of ‘green taxation’ appears to be losing
popularity, and the growing appeal of emissions trading may be responsible. The EU’s statistical office Eurostat says green taxes measured as a proportion of GDP fell to an eight-year low of
2.5% in 2007, with taxation on transport accounting for just a quarter of that.
The introduction of longer and heavier lorries on European roads would lead to an increase in CO2 emissions from freight transport according to a new study by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.
Transport and Environment (T&E) has launched a call for proposals for a study investigating the price sensitivity of road freight transport in Europe.
To see the terms of reference click here.
Interested? Contact Nina Renshaw. The deadline for proposals is 9 June 2009.
Editorial by Jos Dings, T&E Director
After some eight months of unprecedented panic, and equally unprecedented action to soften the sharp edges of the global downturn, we now seem to be entering a new phase – an after-emergency phase in which people are starting to come to their senses and scratch their heads over the consequences of the crisis for the next years, if not decades.
Jos Dings writes in today's Financial Times:
Your editorial on car scrapping schemes (Crushing problems, April 14) was scathing, and accurate. However, your contention that 'new cars tend to be better than old ones' is only partly true.
A new study commissioned by T&E has suggested that current thinking about the fuel consumption of vehicles has left out an important element – the impact of fuel efficiency standards on the price of oil. The report could change the way governments, politicians and the EU views the pricing of transport.
Editorial by Bill Hemmings, T&E Policy Officer
It's a sad reflection of how little we have now come to expect from EU attempts to tackle the environmental impact of aviation that we are this month celebrating the miniscule victory of having got the Commission to publish a report.
The highly controversial German scheme that offers incentives to scrap an old car and buy a new one is proving so popular that the government has freed up more money to extend the scheme.
The Dutch government is abandoning the aviation ticket tax it introduced last July.
The current fashion among Europe’s politicians seems to be providing financial incentives to scrap old cars and replace them with new ones. It is being dressed up as an environmental measure, despite evidence that it can do more harm than good, and in Germany it has led to two absurd developments.