Europe must steer transport policy in greener direction - EEA
Wed 01 April 2009
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A new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) says that transport continues to contribute disproportionally to Europe's greenhouse gas emissions, poor air quality and noise; and still uses the least efficient modes to move people and goods.
The EEA's report which looked at the environmental performance of the transport sector concluded that there are several options to promote synergies between different policies but there are also risks of policy initiatives counteracting each other.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director, said: "We know the technology exists to tackle impacts of the transport sector on Europe's environment. However, many vehicles rolling off production lines are anything but green, the freight sector still favours the least efficient transport modes and railways across the EU still do not have a unified system."
"At a time when we need to tackle our economic and environmental problems through sustainable and green solutions, trends in transport are pointing in the wrong direction; and will continue to contribute to air pollution, rising emissions of greenhouse gas and many negative environmental impacts."
The EEA report says that emissions of greenhouse gases have increased by 26% or 180 million tonnes, between 1990 and 2006, excluding international aviation and marine transport (EU-15).
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