Transport Archives

Plug-in hybrids and electric cars have increased in popularity in France, rising from 2.5% of all vehicles sold in 2019 to 7.5% today. The increase in sales is partly linked to the electric bonuses granted under the country's recovery plan, dubbed France Relance. EURACTIV France reports.

Following months of fevered speculation (and equally fevered lobbying), the Fit for 55 climate laws package was unveiled last Wednesday (14 July). In today’s Transport Brief we’ll take a look at what the Fit for 55 plan means for three key sectors: road transport, aviation, and maritime.

The advanced biofuels industry has criticised the complexity of the EU’s climate legislation package, arguing that the uncertainty caused by the slew of new rules will hinder investor confidence.

As electromobility grows, it’s triggering enormous change to the automotive sector, writes Judith Kirton-Darling. Handled right, this transition could bring Europe an unrivalled opportunity for competitive advantage and provide a future for the 14 million workers in Europe who depend directly or indirectly on the automotive industry, she argues.

A proposed new EU-wide fuel taxation system based on energy content rather than volume seeks to end incentives for petrol and diesel, aiming instead to support the uptake of green biofuels, renewable hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

Proposed EU legislation aimed at cutting flight emissions by ramping up the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) has excluded the use of first-generation biofuels, arguing they bring "limited environmental benefits".

Italy has reached a deal with the European Commission over the launch of carrier Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA), which will replace the loss-making, state-owned Alitalia, the Treasury said in a statement.

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday (15 July) adding shipping to the bloc's carbon market for the first time, adding pressure to become greener on an industry that had avoided the European Union's system of pollution charges for over a decade.

Airlines may lose a tax break on jet fuel that has drawn fire from environmentalists, while having to use more non-petroleum alternatives and pay a bigger emissions bill, under major proposals to make Europe the "first climate-neutral continent".

Sales of new cars and vans that produce carbon emissions will be banned as of 2035, proposals tabled by the European Commission revealed on Wednesday (14 July), a move which all but guarantees that the era of the internal combustion engine (ICE) is drawing to a close in the EU.

NASA and the European Space Agency joined forces Tuesday (13 July) in the battle against climate change, a move they said paves the way to a global response to the problem.

For those in the orbit of the EU institutions – lobbyists, journalists, policy wonks, activists – the suspense is almost unbearable. Wednesday (14 July) will see the European Commission unveil the so-called “Fit for 55” package: more than a dozen pieces of legislation that aim to ensure the bloc reduces emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

Kyiv will be invited on Tuesday (13 July) to join EU industrial alliances on batteries and raw materials, with a view to develop an entire value chain of the extraction, refining and recycling of minerals in Ukraine to supply the EU market for electric cars and digital equipment.

Favouring electrification while ignoring low-carbon liquid fuels will hinder the bloc's efforts to decarbonise road transport, a prominent industry body has said ahead of the release of the EU's climate law package.

The EU's antitrust authority fined German auto giants Volkswagen and BMW €875 million on Thursday (8 July) for colluding on the development of anti-pollution technology for diesel cars.

The list of EU-approved sustainable fuel sources should be expanded to meet the higher targets for second-generation biofuels under the updated renewable energy directive, according to the advanced biofuels industry.

A recent survey suggests that Europeans believe airlines should be required to pay tax on aviation fuel. The European Commission should heed the public and not the aviation lobby, writes Ciarán Cuffe.

The European Commission is set to do the previously unthinkable – tax aviation jet fuel. Reversing a long-standing policy, the EU executive will apply an EU-wide minimum tax rate on fossil-based kerosene for flights travelling within the bloc.

The truck manufacturing units of Volkswagen, Daimler and Volvo announced Monday (5 July) they will team up to build a network of 1,700 charging points for heavy-duty vehicles in Europe using green electricity.

The Netherlands is a world leader in EV charging infrastructure, thanks partly to their use of multipliers – a statistical method that encourages the use of renewable energy in transport. But the European Commission's decision to eliminate multipliers for electricity will destroy the successful Dutch model, argues William Todts.

The European Commission has drafted plans to set an EU-wide minimum tax rate for polluting aviation fuels, as it seeks to meet more ambitious targets to fight climate change, a document seen by Reuters shows.