Technology alone can't deliver 60% carbon reduction - latest EU report on transport
Fri 18 November 2011
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The EU's Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism (TERM 2011) report provides the first annual assessment of the EU's progress in moving towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for transport published in the 2011 Transport White Paper. TERM 2011 provides the baseline against which progress will be checked, covering most of the environmental areas, including energy consumption, emissions, noise and transport demand.
The report also shows the latest data and discusses the different aspects that can contribute the most to minimise transport impacts. TERM 2011 applies the avoid-shift-improve (ASI) approach, introduced in the previous TERM report, analysing ways to optimise transport demand, obtain a more sustainable modal split or use the best technology available.
The latest report, compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), shows emissions fell in 2009 for the second year running, but they have grown so much since 1990 that the 2050 target will not be achievable without the use of a variety of measures.
The report says that, while technology improvement would take the bulk of emissions’ cuts, modal shift and reduced demand would be needed as well.
The drop in emissions in 2009 is largely credited to a reduction in freight as a result of the economic downturn. Car use did not fall. The biggest rises have come from aviation and shipping, but the EEA says reduction potential in these sectors is limited, so other sectors like road and rail will have to contribute more towards the 60% target.
Transport and Environment (T&E), the Brussels-based NGO, also notes that TERM also confirms the problem of the discrepancy between emissions measured in a vehicle’s test cycle and what it emits in real driving conditions.
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