EU 'green transport' plans to ignore CO2

According to the Commission's communication, "the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory versus optional charging schemes for road freight transport were compared. It was found that while there are clear and immediate benefits to be reaped in member states with a lot of traffic, the financial viability of charging systems for external costs in member states with low traffic requires further studies". 

Johannes Ludewig, executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), told EurActiv that, though the Commission's plans were rather unambitious, the most important part was the acceptance of the principle of internalisation of external costs. 

He nevertheless lamented the exclusion of CO2 from the plans, saying: "We are seeing the argument from the Commission saying that from a scientific point of view CO2 should be better internalised by taxes on gasoline or diesel and our view is that theoretically I can follow that, but in reality, seeing the price level of gasoline and diesel today, it is unrealistic that in the forseeable future any taxes on these two will be increased." He further pointed to the contradiction between going for an optional approach and excluding certain pollutants, such as CO2. 

While Ludewig would rather have seen an obligation, he said "I think that is simply unrealistic". 

But Damian Viccars, in charge of social and fiscal affairs at the European office of the International Road Transport Union (IRU), insisted that a mandatory approach would go against subsidiarity. 

He also welcomed the exclusion of CO2 from the plans, saying: "Don't forget that we already have a CO2 tax in the form of fuel taxation. In the majority of cases, we already pay over and above our infrastructure costs through fuel taxes and contribute hugely to government transport budgets," he stressed. 

Viccars also felt that congestion charges would amount to another form of "double taxation". "We are already incurring the congestion cost simply by being forced to sit in traffic," he said, adding that the 'polluter pays' system proposed by the Commission is unlikely to have any real effect. "We are not at liberty to travel when we want," he explained, pointing to consumer needs, night-time delivery constraints and working time restrictions. "The prescriptiveness of the approach will simply cause costs to be passed on to consumers," he said, arguing in favour of a 'Cheapest Cost Avoider Principle', under which it would be left to the party that can prevent or abate the damage at the lowest cost for the overall economy to take action. 

Green MEP Michael Cramer told EurActiv that he was disappointed with the proposals: "The Commission's study excludes accident and CO2 costs – the climate costs which are 80% of all the costs that transport is generating," he lamented, adding that he hoped Parliament would vote to toughen up the directive. 

"We want fair competition between the modes of transport at least," he said, saying railways were suffering from the fact that most roads are still not covered by the  tolls although rail is, as well as the fact aircraft still do not pay kerosene tax despite rail having to pay diesel tax. "That is unfair competition in favour of the modes of transport that are harmful for the climate, and not the opposite," he lamented. 

"I hope that the Parliament will vote in a strong way – stronger than the Commission, but the conservatives are against it," he concluded.

To read the interview with Michael Cramer in full, please click here. 

But in fact, German MEP Georg Jarzembowski, spokesman on transport for the EPP-ED, told EurActiv that his group thought it was "strange" that the Eurovignette Directive would remain voluntary. "If you want to internalise external costs because of the climate change issue, then all countries should do it," he said.

He further expressed his discontent with the fact that the directive only covers road transport. "We are a little bit shocked that the Commission only proposes something for the road and is not preparing anything for the other modes of transport," he said. 

But he agreed with the Commission that the costs of CO2 need not be included. "We have already today a spreading of the tariff according to Euro One to Euro Six standards – so the more polluting a truck is, the more it has to pay. This is already a type of CO2 criteria in the directive, because the tariff varies according to the pollution," he said, insisting that excluding CO2 from the scope of the Eurovignette does not go against the EU's climate goals.

To read the interview with Georg Jarzembowski in full, please click here.