The transport sector "also has to make its significant contribution" to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and slashing energy consumption by 20% by 2020, stressed European transport ministers on 8 June, in a new "energy strategy for transport".
With growth rates expected to soar to around 50% between 2000 and 2020 for freight alone, the transport sector – up to now overlooked in EU strategies to tackle climate change – is about to take centre stage as EU governments work to fulfil their ambitious energy and climate-change commitments (EurActiv 9/03/07).
Alongside measures to cap CO2 emissions from cars (see LinksDossier on Cars & CO2) and to include aviation in its carbon emissions-trading scheme (see LinksDossier on Aviation & ETS), the Council also called for maritime shipping, inland waterways and railways to take up a larger share of freight transport and said that further efforts were necessary to strengthen these modes of transport against road and air.
Nevertheless, trains and ships will also have to become cleaner and more efficient, said ministers, adding that infrastructure-charging will be key to ensuring that each individual transport mode bears the full cost of its "ecological footprint". The Commission is due to present a general model to calculate this by June 2008.
Developing alternative and renewable fuels is also a top priority, ministers said (see LinksDossier on Alternative fuels). However, warning of the potential negative side-effects linked with the development of biofuels, they requested that the Commission present a scheme for the certification of biofuels on the basis of sustainablility criteria and their contribution to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. They also called for a larger focus on so-called second-generation production technologies.
The energy strategy for transport should not lead to a significant impact on mobility within Europe, stressed ministers, adding that "only fair and cost-efficient measures will be realised" and that, in the long run, they will make European industry even more competitive.
Nevertheless, large swathes of the industry remain to be convinced, fearing that Europe’s solitary fight against climate change could in fact reduce the continent's competitiveness by raising the price of cars and air travel, shattering these all-important industries for the European economy.
