Transport & Environment – Comments on the European Commission Transport 2050 Strategy
Brussels - The European Commission has today published its 2050 strategy for transport, including a headline target to cut transport emissions by 60% by 2050. Jos Dings, director of Transport & Environment, a network of sustainable transport campaign groups across Europe made the following comments:
[mailchimp_signup][/mailchimp_signup]On the 2030 and 2050 targets:
“The Commission plans to cut emissions by just 1% a year until 2030, and then 5% a year after that. Putting off action and relying on miraculous technological
breakthroughs in twenty years is a completely flawed strategy.”
On the total lack of short term action:
“The only concrete action the Commission proposes within its current mandate (2010-14) is to expand airport capacity, which will make the headline targets
even harder to reach. Plans to tackle harmful subsidies and to develop greener transport pricing are up to five years away. In short, this is a manifesto
for inaction. ”
On biofuels in aviation:
“The Commission expects aviation to be 40% powered by ‘sustainable low carbon fuels’, likely to mean biofuels, by 2050. But it makes no reference to the
need to correct how emissions from biofuels are accounted for to ensure that they are truly sustainable.”
On EU transport infrastructure spending:
“The EU spends EUR 13 billion every year on transport infrastructure projects but this strategy paper says nothing concrete about how to make sure only
sustainable projects get funded. The EU should link the proportion of EU funding transport projects receive to the amount of carbon emissions they save.”