SURGING TRANSPORT EMISSIONS THREATEN EU KYOTO TARGETS

Reuters, 26 February 2007

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By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - A surge in transport in the European Union is jeopardizing

goals for cutting greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, the European

Environment Agency (EEA) said on Monday.

Emissions from transport, led by a near-doubling in aviation traffic, rose on

average by 25 percent across Europe from 1990-2004 even as most EU nations

managed to cut emissions from other sectors such as industry or agriculture.

"The environmental performance of the transport sector is still unsatisfactory,"

the EEA said in a report covering EU nations along with some details of

outsiders Turkey, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

"This tendency threatens both Europe's and individual EU member states' progress

toward their ... targets" under the U.N. Kyoto Protocol, it said in a 44-page

report. "Therefore, additional policy initiatives and instruments are needed."

"Transport -- bottom of the Kyoto class again," it said.

Transport, based mainly on burning oil, accounts for about a fifth of European

emissions of heat-trapping gases from human activities. Cars and trucks account

for more than 90 percent of transport emissions, ahead of ships, planes and

trains.

From 1990-2003, passenger transport volumes in Europe grew by 20 percent, the

EEA said. More people own cars and often drive further, for instance to

out-of-town shopping malls. Air transport alone surged by 96 percent, aided by

cheaper flights. 

Under Kyoto, the European Union has to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 8

percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. Emissions were 0.6 percent below 1990

levels in 2004. 

FUEL EFFICIENCY

"Technical advances, such as cleaner, more fuel efficient engines are very

important but we cannot innovate our way out of the emissions problem from

transport," said Jacqueline McGlade, head of the Copenhagen-based EEA.

It said road transport was polluting less but air quality in cities was still

above EU limits. One in four EU citizens lives less than 500 Metrecs (yards)

from a road carrying more than 3 million vehicles a year, it said.

Reuters Pictures

And transport was creating other problems, such as noise and slicing up

landscapes with new roads. The EEA also said Europe spent 270-290 billion euros

($355.6-$381.9 billion) in transport subsidies a year, some of them

environmentally damaging.

The report said greenhouse gas emissions from transport had grown fastest in

Luxembourg, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Romania. All had gains

exceeding 90 percent from 1990-2004. In the same period, emissions fell only in

Lithuania, Bulgaria and Estonia.

Emissions from international flights are now excluded from Kyoto but the EU

Commission wants them to be part of an emissions trading scheme. It also wants

tighter emissions rules for cars, saying industry goals are insufficient.

The EEA said a 2005 study of the EU projected that road and aviation passenger

transport volumes would rise by 36 and 105 percent respectively between 2000 and

2020, by when the Commission wants deeper cuts in overall emissions.

Freight transport was also rising, because more goods were being transported and

over longer distances.

Copyright 2007, Reuters

EDITOR'S NOTE: The EEA report can be accessed here:

 HYPERLINK "javascript:ol('http://reports.eea.europa.eu/eea_report_2007_1/en/eea_report_1_2007.pdf');" http://reports.eea.europa.eu/eea_report_2007_1/en/eea_report_1_2007.pdf