Commission outlines vision for future of transport

Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency, said earlier this year that "we know the technology exists to tackle impacts of the transport sector on Europe's environment". 

"However, many vehicles rolling off production lines are anything but green, the freight sector still favours the least efficient transport modes, and railways across the EU still do not have a unified system," McGlade continued. 

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) welcomed the Commission's vision, but stressed that its ambitious objectives "can only be achieved by developing sound road transport policies supported by a strong business-friendly approach, in terms of better legislation, reducing red tape, implementing incentives for the introduction of technical innovation and best road transport business practices, to allow the road transport industry to drive a quicker economic recovery". 

According to the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies  (CER), the communication gives "inadequate weight to the issue of climate change and the role of pricing in reducing the impact of transport on the emission of greenhouse gases". While it emphasises the need to promote technological change to increase sustainability, "for this to happen, prices must cover all costs," it argues.

"Technological development does not just occur automatically," CER Executive Director Johannes Ludewig said. "A prerequisite for promoting technological change and innovation is the introduction of correct prices. Pricing is also crucial in changing behaviour and in the management of demand." 

CER also complained that the communicaiton was "unclear about what measures are needed to shift freight and passengers to more sustainable modes," and suggested that pricing should play an important role with this regard. "There is a need to ensure that all modes, particularly the more polluting ones, road and air, pay the right price for their external costs," it stated. 

BusinessEurope, the EU business lobby, stressed the need to make all transport types more efficient and further strengthen co-modality. "It is essential to better integrate airports and ports to the Trans-European Network for Transport and to address the impact of transport on the environment in a way that supports business competitiveness."  

BusinessEurope also called for strong commitment from public authorities and the EU to finance, through public-private partnerships, "a well-focused infrastructure expansion to help avoid congestion and time losses". 

Jonathan Breeze, chief executive of private jet company Jet Republic, said the Commission should have increased its powers over local transport policy, to unblock existing capacity in Europe and to create "a truly efficient system". He said that flight movements are "artificially capped" in some parts of Europe, which will "exacerbate the increasing congestion at major hub airports in the years to come". 

The environmental NGO Greenpeace deplored that the communication prominently "features comfort and safety considerations," while action on noise, air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions "only appear as secondary objectives". It also noted that the communication largely ignores issues such as reducing demand and controlling speed. 

"We just can't achieve sustainability if we continue to have an ever-expanding transport sector. If the Commission does not tackle this burning issue, the growth of EU transport will continue undermining climate efforts in other sectors," said Franziska Achterberg, Greenpeace EU's transport policy advisor. 

Another environmental NGO, the European Federation for Transport and Environment  (T&E), argued that the Commission's vision underestimates the challenges and proposes no concrete solutions. "The International Energy Agency has recognised that conventional oil is running out and 'unconventional' alternatives such as tar sands will be even costlier and dirtier. But the Commission doesn't give any clue as to how it proposes to deal with this issue of fundamental strategic importance to the EU," T&E stated.