Europe’s transport sector needs “comprehensive transition,” environmental groups say

Europe’s transport sector needs a comprehensive overhaul if the continent is to meet its climate targets, a group of German environmental organisations said on Friday. The transport sector is currently responsible for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, and this share is rising, the group under the Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR) umbrella said in a position paper. “Only if our mobility is completely rethought and converted to low-emission alternatives can we effectively protect the climate and people's health in the future,” they said. An important prerequisite for the transition is the abolishment of subsidies for fossil fuels, according to the statement, which called for removing current tax exemptions, in particular for paraffin and marine fuels, and instead leving "appropriate" taxes.

The EU Commission has said it would have a strategy for sustainable and intelligent mobility by the end of the year, adding that this strategy needs to create a framework “for the allocation of climate, environmental and health costs in the transport sector according to the polluter-pays principle,” while showing how motorised traffic can be avoided and remaining traffic shifted to more environmentally friendly means.

Germany has pushed for a Europe-wide system of high-speed and night trains to connect major cities, as well as for a cross-border network of charging stations for electric and hydrogen cars. But it struggles with climate protection in its own transport sector, where emissions have remained stubbornly high since 1990.