EU countries explore how to reduce CO ₂ in road, sea and air transport

The Ministers of Transport of the European Union explored on Friday how to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in road, sea and air traffic, coinciding with a day of “global climate strike” with mobilizations against the climate crisis in more than 100 countries.

“Transport is responsible for a huge amount of emissions and affects the daily lives of citizens,” said Finland’s Minister of Labour, Sanna Marin, whose country holds the six-monthly presidency of the Council of the EU, who recalled that “today thousands of people are going to demonstrate for a cleaner environment here, in Brussels”.

The ministerial debate sought to share the practices and ideas of the different Member States to design future emission reduction policies, taking into account that transport is “the only sector in which greenhouse gas emissions continue to exceed the levels of 1990”, recalled the European Commissioner Violeta Bulc.

In general, the ministers of the Twenty-eight underlined the importance of the EU adopting the commitment to achieve “climate neutrality” by 2050, that is, to emit only the CO2 it can absorb, an initiative blocked by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Poland.

ROAD TRANSPORT

It accounts for a fifth of eu emissions and, within the EU, roads contribute 70% of greenhouse gases.

Part of the solution, the ministers said, is to encourage road freight transport to move to rail , which emits the ninth part of CO2 – promote a fleet of zero-emission vehicles, promote alternative fuels, strengthen investment in innovation and privilege public transport, cycling and walking.

Countries such as Croatia, Slovakia or Latvia stressed that “the price of electric cars is still too high” and called for an end to “a mobility policy only for the rich” that can make countries with less purchasing power become “an attractive market for old cars that pollute a lot”.

Hungary, which drags its feet on climate change, defended that it is “unfair to ask for more efforts” from countries with economic delays and demanded more time for adjustments because “the automotive sector is very important in Hungary and is in danger with the current measures.”

Germany stressed that “the automotive industry generates many jobs and well paid” and that “this in the future must remain so.”

“Our focus is on innovation. We want to generate technologies that serve the whole world,” said the German official.

The Netherlands suggested speeding up the electrification of motorcycles and encouraging bicycle use, and Sweden called for “effective environmental taxes,” while France supported boosting a European battery-electric industry.

The Spanish Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, Pedro Saura, encouraged his colleagues to connect “transport policy, industrial policy and innovation” and, in terms of trains and goods, to seek “a continuous connection between all Member States”, as well as to include multimodality in fiscal policy.

AIR TRANSPORT

EU aviation is currently subject to the European Emissions Trading System (ETS), until in 2021 the future international Corsia system designed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) begins to be implemented, a scheme to which 81 States have already announced that 81 States will be added.

Both the Commission and the Member States defended the importance of Corsia, privileging high-speed rail for journeys of less than 500 kilometres, encouraging technological development and implementing the Single European Sky, which seeks an integrated air traffic management in the EU that would be more efficient, cheaper and sustainable.

There was, however, less consensus on the idea of applying green taxes to airlines, an initiative promoted by states such as Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

SHIPPING

It is still the least polluting but, due to its volume, it accounts for 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions and, like aviation, it is a sector that requires global measures, explained the Commissioner for Transport, who recalled that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set out to achieve a reduction of at least 50% of emissions by 2050 compared to 2008.

Member States supported a comprehensive approach through the IMO and bet on the use of alternative fuels, such as ammonia cells, biofuels or liquefied natural gas, as well as the optimisation of logistics, the electrification of port infrastructures, technological innovation or emission quotas per ship.

Source: The Vanguard