EEA report finds transport CO2 down but local pollution on the rise
Mon 08 December 2014
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Transport's contribution to European GHG emissions fell 3.3 % in 2012 according to the European Environment Agency (EEA). However, European cities are still suffering from high levels of air pollution, resulting in high economic, environmental and health costs across the continent..
The latest EEA annual report found that overall passenger transport demand fell 1.4 % in 2012, mainly due to a steady reduction in passenger car travel since 2009. Transport's overall demand for energy also fell, establishing a downward trend since peak demand in 2007. However, the EEA noted that these trends may be partly caused by the recession and it is therefore unclear whether there will be a rebound in the future.
Poor air quality, though, is still harming health in Europe's cities. Levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulates in cities have been exacerbated as a result of the increasing presence of diesel cars, according to the EEA. This is partly a result of fuel tax policies in most European countries, which give preference to diesel over petrol-driven equivalents.
Alternative fuel car registrations were up in 2013 compared with the previous year. Battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles together account for only 0.5 % of total new registrations in the EU. This slow growth may be partly due to the presence of incentives such as scrappage schemes and company car regimes which continue to support internal combustion engine vehicles in many Member States.
Europeans collectively travelled 6.4 trillion kilometres in 2012, according to the Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism (TERM) 2014. While car transport made up more than 70 % of this distance, it has continued to decline since 2009. By contrast, air transport use has seen a rapid increase over recent decades.
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