The European Parliament’s Environment Committee voted today for a one-year ‘stop the clock’ derogation from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for flights to and from Europe. Environmental NGOs Transport & Environment (T&E), WWF, Germanwatch and Brot für die Welt think the ‘stop the clock’ concession is bigger than necessary given the limited progress made in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
A report commissioned by T&E and Greenpeace suggests the EU can more than halve its existing carbon dioxide emissions from new cars with existing technology. The report, by the British consultancy Ricardo-AEA, says the right mixture of electric, hybrid and conventionally-fuelled cars will enable Europe to reach a target of 60 grams per kilometre from the average new car in 2025.
Efforts to reduce traffic noise across Europe suffered a setback earlier this month when MEPs voted to weaken current noise limits for sports cars and lorries. The outcome of the vote hinders moves to bring EU vehicle noise levels into line with World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations for safe limits. T&E says MEPs have put pressure by the automotive industry ahead of the health of citizens.
The EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas has floated the idea of the EU legislating to oblige member states to provide more charging points for electric vehicles. The proposal came as part of a ‘Clean Power for Transport’ package launched last month that looks to encourage a greater take-up of alternative-fuel vehicles by the public. T&E said it was ‘a small but largely welcome step’ in the right direction.
In 1997 the parties to the Kyoto Protocol agreed that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international aviation should be ‘limited’ or ‘reduced’ working through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN agency responsible for setting international standards for civil aviation. Since Kyoto, ICAO has failed to deliver or agree any mandatory global policies to mitigate emissions. The Organisation closed the door, one by one, on almost every conceivable marketmeasure for reducing aviation’s emissions and now, under pressure to act, is deeply divided over adopting a global solution.The following timeline shows the sluggish progress made in the ICAO, while CO2 emissions from aviation have been growing 4.3% on average per year between 1999 and 2009 and today aviation alone accounts for 4.9% of the cumulative climate change impact of human activities.
In this open letter to MEPs, the European Small Business Alliance, EuroCommerce, Athlon Car Lease International and Transport & Environment call for the review of the Regulation setting “CO2 emission standards for light commercial vehicles”.
The revision of the Tachograph Regulation (Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3921/85 on recording equipment in road transport), which was launched in 2011, seeks to “improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the tachograph system” and to “update the current legislation so as to make full use of new technological opportunities”.As part of the revision process, the European Parliament agreed in its first reading to mandate weight sensors on new trucks as part of the future ‘smart’ tachograph.In this joint statement, the ETF and T&E urge EU policy makers to follow the position adopted by the European Parliament and to make weight sensors mandatory on new trucks and trailers concomitantly with the introduction of the smart tachograph in the sector.
This blogpost was originally published by the Huffington Post. It was co-authored by Bill Hemmings, Programme Manager for Aviation with Transport and Environment and Vera Pardee, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute.
Sustainable transport group, Transport & Environment (T&E), today welcomed the Commission proposal mandating that member states build up infrastructure for alternative fuels such as electric charging points for road transport and liquefied natural gas (LNG) refuelling points for ships.
In the context of the EU's one year 'stop the clock' of the EU ETS in order for a global aviation emissions reduction framework to be implemented by ICAO, this factsheet compares the myths and realities of the United States of America's policy towards curbing international aviation emissions.