Europe may need more cuts in transport emissions

The transport sector needs to "raise its game" if the European Union wants to achieve its overall greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by 2020, according a report released today from the European Environment Agency.

Building more efficient cars is not enough, since more and more people are buying and using them, outpacing any gains, said the report.

"Increased car usage and a reduced number of passengers per car negate the improvements gained from improvements in vehicle efficiency," said the study.

The EU agency said if transportation emissions followed the same reduction trend as in society as a whole, total EU greenhouse gas emissions during the period 1990 to 2005 would have fallen by 14 percent instead of 7.9 percent.

The annual report covered air, land and sea transport, but noted that approximately 12 percent of the overall EU emissions of carbon dioxide come from fuel burned by passenger cars.

"To address transport demand, measures and policy instruments must go beyond the transport sector itself and be introduced into sectors of the economy such as households, industry and service, within which the demand for transport actually originates," said the report.

The agency said boosting public transportation would be a way to cut down on car use, but there are plenty of road blocks when heading toward that goal.

"A key obstacle to achieving a mode shift from private to public transport is the sometimes poor availability, slowness and unreliability of public transport services," said the report.

Freight transport is a big problem too. The agency said freight transport is growing faster than the economy.

Inland freight transport, which includes road, rail and inland waterways, in European Environment Agency member countries increased by 30 percent between 1995 and 2005, with the road freight segment responsible for the greatest increase at 38 percent.

Agency member countries include the 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Turkey and Switzerland.

A report from the EU earlier this month called for immediate support for hydrogen energy projects, saying member states could gain an environmental as well as a competitive edge by starting work on the technological hurdles now (see EU study says hydrogen support needs to start now).

The EU's HyWays study found that introducing hydrogen into the energy system could reduce the total oil consumption by vehicles on the road by 40 percent between now and 2050.

Today's report points to at least one way to cut down on road use for freight, noting the use of heavy vehicle fees in Switzerland. The agency said the fees, implemented in 2001, promote the transfer of goods traffic to rail.

"Monitoring during the first five years of operation has shown that the upward trend prior to implementation has been reversed. By the end of 2005, the total number of kilometers traveled was 6.5 percent lower than in 2000."

The environmental agency said that in order to meet emissions targets in line with the Bali roadmap, the EU would need to limit transport volume growth to 4 percent over the 2010 to 2020 period.

The Bali roadmap refers to a two-year negotiating process, initiated in Bali, Indonesia, that aims to secure a binding climate change agreement at the 2009 U.N. summit in Denmark.

The report said that under a business as usual scenario, the transport sector would grow by 15 percent.

Getting people to walk or ride a bicycle for short trips would help, according to the report.

The European Commission is doing its own part to cut transport emissions, handing out 200 bicycles for its staff.

The commission set a target to reduce the use of private cars among commission officials commuting to work by 35 percent by 2009.

Between January and June 2007, there was a 30 percent increase in the use of the bicycles compared to the same period in 2006.

Helping things along were a boost in the number of bicycle racks at commission headquarters, providing changing rooms and showers for the cyclists, as well as initiatives such as "Friday Bikeday."

But it might be time for an EU-wide Friday Bikeday, as cycling still has a ways to go in the European Union.

While Denmark and the Netherlands clocked in at 946 kilometers and 838 kilometers per person respectively in 2000, people in Luxembourg and Spain were much less enthusiastic about pedal power, coming in at just 23 kilometers and 20 kilometers.