Effectively addressing climate change is possibly the greatest challenge of our time. In 2015 world governments agreed in Paris that global temperature rise must be limited to well below 2ºC, while aiming for 1.5ºC compared to pre-industrial levels. A recent IPCC 1.5º Special Report also recommended "deep emissions reductions" to achieve these temperature goals.
A significant share of palm oil and soybean expansion happens on rainforests, forests, peatland and savannahs (land with high carbon stocks), according to a new study reviewing the latest scientific evidence on deforestation. Based on the most recent available satellite assessments, the report estimates that 31% of palm oil expansion globally takes place on forests (1), while 23% of the expanded production occurred on peatland (some of which overlaps with forest conversion). The study also estimates that at least 7% of global soybean expansion caused direct deforestation in the period 2012 to 2015.
EU environment ministers today called for truck CO2 emissions to be reduced by 15% in 2025 and 30% in 2030, compared to 2019 levels. The European NGO federation Transport & Environment (T&E) said the decision is an important step in agreeing the EU’s first-ever CO2 reduction targets as soon as possible, but warned that the ministers’ ambition falls far short of what’s required to meet Europe’s 2030 climate targets and help hauliers reduce CO2 emissions and fuel costs.
A coalition of 21 NGOs urged Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete to exclude soy- and palm oil-based biodiesel from the list of biofuels eligible to count toward renewable energy targets for transport.
Transport is Europe's biggest climate problem accounting for 27% of its GHG emissions in 2017. This report summarises a series of studies by Transport & Environment. (T&E analysed pathways for decarbonisation in the road freight, aviation, shipping and car sectors.) It demonstrates that transport can and must be decarbonised by 2050 at the very latest, not only to limit global warming but also to ensure Europe's competitiveness, its energy sovereignty and the health and well-being of its 500 million citizens.
Powering European ships with batteries, hydrogen or ammonia will decarbonise the fleet and require only half the amount of renewable electricity that less efficient solutions like synthetic methane or synthetic diesel will need. That’s according to sustainable transport group Transport & Environment, which has published a Roadmap to Decarbonising European Shipping. The EU must set out in its 2050 Decarbonisation Strategy, to be published on 28 November, how it will end the use of fossil fuels in shipping, including marine fuel oil and liquified natural gas (LNG).
Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming and its rapid growth puts it on track to consume a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. There is a way to avoid this outcome but we need to act fast, a green transport NGO has said. By driving out the use of fossil kerosene fuel through carbon pricing and requiring aircraft to switch to synthetic fuels, the climate impact of flying can be reduced dramatically, according to a new report by Transport & Environment (T&E).
Are consumers unwilling to buy electric cars or are carmakers reluctant to sell them? In a poll conducted by Ipsos Mori for NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), 40% of citizens surveyed say it is likely the next car they’ll buy or lease will be electric or fuel cell powered. A considerable 5-12% of citizens across the countries surveyed say it is very likely they'll buy an electric next. The survey shows there is an immediate opportunity to grow the 2% of sales that presently can be plugged-in.
Despite all the fanfare about electric trucks at the world’s largest truck fair (IAA) on Wednesday 19 September, the German and European truck lobby groups are urging lawmakers to weaken emission reduction targets so they can keep selling even dirtier diesel lorries for another decade and as few electric trucks as possible. Transport & Environment’s (T&E) analysis shows that new trucks in 2025 could be even less fuel efficient than those in 2019, if lawmakers follow the wishes of the German VDA and Europe’s ACEA.
There are now 43 million dirty diesels on Europe’s roads, and their numbers continue to grow three years after the Dieselgate scandal was exposed, a new report concludes. Even a diesel car that passed the EU’s new on-road test emits nine times the legal amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) when driven in a way more representative of typical driving, new testing shows. NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), which authored the report, said it shows combustion engines – including those which passed the official Real-Driving Emissions test – are not clean and will continue to pollute in the foreseeable future.