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.
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).
You could almost hear the sigh of relief going through the ‘Quartier Européen’ two weeks ago. Despite all the talk of a populist anti-EU insurgency taking Brussels by storm, that was not Sunday evening’s story. The people’s party (EPP) and the social democrats (S&D) each lost 30-40 seats. But the big surprise was the excellent performance of liberal and green parties. By Monday morning people started to talk about ‘a green wave’ with even the European Commission’s most powerful bureaucrat, Martin Selmayr, joining the chorus.
Cruise ships are choking Europe’s port cities with the biggest cruise company, Carnival Corporation, emitting 10 times more sulphur oxides (SOx) than all of Europe’s 260 million cars, new research shows. Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world’s second largest cruise operator, emits four times the SOx of the European car fleet.
Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest luxury cruise operator, emitted nearly 10 times more sulphur oxide (SOX) around European coasts than did all 260 million European cars in 2017, a new analysis by sustainable transport group Transport & Environment reveals.[1] Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world’s second largest, is second, yet four times worse than the European car fleet. SOX emissions form sulphate (SO4) aerosols that increase human health risks and contribute to acidification in terrestrial and aquatic environments.[2]
The main purpose of this study is to analyse air pollution caused by luxury passenger cruise ships in European waters. The results show that the luxury cruise brands owned by Carnival Corporation & PLC emitted in 2017 in European seas alone 10 times more cancer-causing sulphur dioxide than all of Europe’s 260+ million passenger vehicles. Spain, Italy, Greece, France and Norway are the most exposed countries to cruise ship air pollution in Europe. Among the major cruise ports, Barcelona, Palma Mallorca and Venice are the most polluted.
This conference will discuss transport decarbonisation in the context of Spain, Italy, Portugal and France the Eastern and Central European EU Member States, with a focus on the 2030 and long-term decarbonisation targets. We aim at discussing challenges, exchanging good practices, having an outlook to the future of transport decarbonisation and enhancing collaboration among stakeholders from like-minded countries.