Transport is the new focus of the European Union in its battle against greenhouse gas emissions. The European Commission made a key move in late April by publishing a ‘European strategy on clean and energy-efficient vehicles’. It encourages the modernisation of vehicles, investments in research and fostering incentives for the market uptake of new technologies including electric cars. The strategy was underpinned by the simultaneous publication of a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA), pointing to the lack of improvement in reducing emissions from the EU’s transport sector and calling for urgent action. However, taking on the transport sector will not be easy. To avoid a head-on confrontation with the powerful car and transport lobby, Brussel has tended to focus on supply side measures, such as the promotion of new technologies. But if Brussels really wants to tackle the transport sector’s growing level of emissions, our Brussels correspondent Hughes Belin notes, it also needs to look at people’s mobility habits – a political no-go area. Barroso, concludes Belin, is in for a bumpy ride.
To read his article.
http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/index.php?id_mailing=83&toegang=fe9fc289c3ff0af142b6d3bead98a923&id=2049
