A report has found that the failure to tackle Europe’s “runaway” transport emissions could lead to the sector pumping out nearly half of the continent’s planet-heating pollution by 2030.
Transport emissions in Europe-driven by polluting cars and pushed higher by the growing thirst for flights-have grown 26% since 1990 – even as efforts to clean up other areas of the economy have led to an overall emissions fall.
Modelling from the campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) shows that If policies continue to clean up transport slower than other sectors, such as electricity and industry, the greenhouse gases emitted when Europeans move around could make up 44% of the continent’s total emissions by the end of the decade.
William Todts, the executive director of T&E said that transport was the “problem child” of Europe’s climate efforts. “The good news is transport emissions in Europe have peaked. The bad news is other sectors are decarbonising three times faster.”
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The report estimated that current policies would cut transport emissions by 8% between now and the end of the decade, with legacy car fleets continuing to burn oil, shipowners facing little incentive to run their operations more efficiently, and the expansion of airports and demand for flights offsetting gains from the uptake of greener fuels. It called on policymakers to “make the job easier” by stopping demand for transport from growing.
Among the recommendations in the report were shifting taxes on company cars to speed up the switch to electric vehicles, encouraging the shipping industry to use efficient technologies, cutting down on business flights, and building fewer roads and airports.
Giulio Mattioli, a transport researcher at the University of Dortmund who was not involved in the study, said the results of the analysis seemed plausible and the policy recommendations sensible.
He said: “The report highlights something very important, namely that transport emissions have grown over time, unlike emissions in other sectors, and that this growth is mainly due to an increase in travel activity, which has more than offset technological improvements.”
“This is something that is rarely mentioned in public, political and media debates – and my impression is that the public is largely unaware of this.”
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
