Commission launches radical transport plan
White paper targets short-haul flights and petrol-powered cars.
No one should be taking short-haul flights or driving conventional-oil-powered cars in cities by the middle of the century, according to a blueprint for Europe’s future transport from the European Commission.
“The choices we make today will determine the shape of transport in 2050,” said Siim Kallas, the European commissioner for transport, as he launched the Commission’s white paper for transport today (28 March) in Brussels. “Curbing mobility is not an option, nor is business as usual,” he added.
The long-awaited paper sets the course of European Union transport policy for the next decade, aiming to pave the way to a greener transport network that is no longer dependent on fossil fuels, as well as pulling down the remaining barriers to a single market in transport.
Key goals (see panel) include halving the use of conventional-oil-powered cars by 2030 in urban areas and phasing them out entirely in city centres by 2050. Another goal is that all passenger journeys between 200 and 1,000 kilometres should be made by rail, rather than by air.
These aims are part of a wider strategy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from transport by 60% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.
The white paper sets out plans in 25 policy areas to meet these headline goals: a mix of regulation, research and innovation funding, as well as phasing out tax and subsidy regimes that currently favour more fossil-fuel intensive transport modes, such as road and aviation.
Criticism
Fact File
Transport goals
*Halve the use of conventional-oil-powered cars in urban transport by 2030 and phase them out entirely in cities by 2050.
* Airplanes should be powered by at least 40% low-carbon fuels by 2050, while emissions from shipping should be cut by 40% by the same year.
*By 2030 at least 30% of freight travelling distances of over 300 kilometres should go by rail or water transport, rather than road, rising to more than 50% by 2050.
*By 2050 the majority of passenger journeys between 200km and 1,000km should be made by rail.
*Reduce road-accident fatalities to almost zero by 2050.
The publication of the paper unleashed a torrent of claims from different transport interests. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) attacked the plans to move away from road transport as “arbitrary”. Ivan Hodac, ACEA’s secretary-general, said: “A simple call for a decrease in the use of motor vehicles will not provide the easy solution it appears to be, because there will not be less demand for the flexible solutions that road transport provides in contrast to other modes.” But Hendrik Abma, executive director of the Association of European Rail Infrastructure Managers, the pan-European group for track operators, praised the paper as “the right political signal at the right time”.
The Airports Council International (ACI) claimed that railways would be unable to absorb extra demand. Olivier Jankovec, director-general of ACI Europe, said that “the extensive rail developments announced will only absorb 0.5% of the total demand for air transport”.
Green transport campaigners were sharply critical. Jos Dings, director of Transport and Environment, described the plan as a “manifesto for inaction”. He said: “The only concrete action the Commission proposes within its current mandate [2010-14] is to expand airport capacity, which will make the headline targets even harder to reach. Plans to tackle harmful subsidies and to develop greener transport pricing are up to five years away.”
In response to criticism that he is delaying action, Kallas said the target to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 60% was both “realistic” and “very ambitious”.