Key facts about the EU “Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy” published recently by the European Commission

Mobility is without any doubt the most critical sector for achieving the EU decarbonisation targets. Therefore, the plans of the EU institutions for this sector are particularly important…and are outlined with the related strategy recently by the European Commission:

Status quo:
– transport responsible for about 25% of EU GHGE (note: in some countries even more)
– recent development: sideways or even growing (yet altered through COVID-19 pandemic impacts)
– equally relevant are other ‘external costs’ for society: noise, water/air pollution, etc. (in total 388 bn EUR p.a.)

Main purpose of the strategy:
– extensive GHGE reduction;
– objectives of the ‘green deal’ may only be reached if transport related GHGE are cut down by at least 90% (!!)

The 3 pillars for sustainable mobility:
i) significantly reduce the current dominance of fossil fuels (replace existing fleets with low- and zero-emission vehicles; boost the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels)
ii) shift towards more sustainable transport modes (increasing share of rail and public transport, shifting freight from road to rail/ships)
– internalization of external costs (implement ‘polluter pays’ and ‘user pays’ principle, carbon princing/ETS)

My ‘highlight’ targets:
– at least 30 Mio. zero-emission vehicles by 2030
– scheduled collective travel <500 km carbon neutral by 2030
– nearly all cars, vans, buses and new (!) heavy-duty vehicles zero-emission by 2050