Sustainable Transport

ESBe-car Charging

An ESBe car charging up. Photographer: Ruth Collier

ESBe-car Charging

ESBe-car Charging

An ESBe car charging up. Photographer: Ruth Collier

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ESBe Car Chargepoint

A street chargepoint for an ESBe-car Photographer: Ruth Collier

ESBe Car Chargepoint

ESBe Car Chargepoint

A street chargepoint for an ESBe-car Photographer: Ruth Collier

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The EU has committed to creating a more sustainable and decarbonised transport system. Developing an economy that increases resource efficiency is key in achieving the second primary objective of the 7th Environment Action Programme, that the EU should develop into a resource‑efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy (EU, 2013). To achieve this transition, a number of future targets have been developed to reduce the environmental impacts of transport in Europe.

The transport sector's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets are, for example, designed to contribute to the EU's overall goal of reducing GHG emissions by 80–95 % by 2050. In its 2011 Transport White Paper (EC, 2011), the European Commission developed guidelines for the transport sector to achieve, by 2050, a 60 % reduction in GHG emissions levels compared with 1990 levels (EC, 2019). The White Paper shows how moving to a more sustainable transport system can be achieved, and how Europe's reliance on oil can be reduced. It also supports the development and introduction of new and sustainable fuel sources and propulsion systems. Moreover, it describes goals for a competitive and resource-efficient transport system, including standards such as:

• reducing use of conventionally fuelled cars in urban transport by 50% by 2030 and phasing them out entirely in cities by 2050;
• setting a 40 % requirement for the use of sustainable low-carbon fuels in aviation;
• changing the amount of freight transported by road to other transport modes, 30% by 2030 and 50% by 2050, for distances over 300 km
• New legislation put in place includes a reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars and vans: 40% decrease in emissions from new cars in 2021 compared to 2005 levels and a 19% decrease for new vans in 2020 compared to 2012 levels (EC, 2019).

Thus, in the future a large proportion of planned GHG emissions reductions will need to come from road transport through use of new, cleaner technologies and by reducing transport oil consumption. This will require considerable effort given that the transport sector is the only major economic sector that has increased GHG emissions since 1990.

Making internal combustion engines more efficient is unlikely to be sufficient in its own right to achieve the EU's long-term goals of reducing GHG emissions. Instead, an integrated approach is needed, covering vehicle efficiency, renewable fuels as well as measures that help reduce transport demand itself.