Conference: Driving Road Decarbonisation Forwards

The European Commission held a conference today on “Driving Road Decarbonisation Forwards” in Brussels. The aim of the conference was to discuss EU level actions that could aid road transport decarbonisation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Road transport provides mobility; it is a vital part of modern society and key for European competitiveness. At the same time, it contributes significantly to the EU's greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. The EU has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in the sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading System by 2030. Transport is the largest of these sectors accounting for nearly a third of emissions, and road transport is the dominant emission source within the overall transport sector. The challenge is to outline how the needed emissions reductions will be delivered.

In its conclusion of October 2014, the European Council invited the European Commission "to further examine instruments and measures for a comprehensive and technology neutral approach for the promotion of emissions reduction and energy efficiency in transport, for electric transportation and for renewable energy sources in transport also after 2020". In view of this request, a conference was held by European Commissioner for Climate and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete; European Commission for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska; and European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc. The goal of the conference was to discuss EU level actions on road transport decarbonisation. For the Commission, the purpose was to understand what stakeholders think is important in order to meet the goal set by EU leaders.

More information

Conference website:

http://www.euconf.eu/driving-road-decarbonisation-forwards/en/registration/index.html

DG CLIMA – reducing CO₂ emissions from vehicles:

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/vehicles/index_en.htm