TRANSPORT

Move Green...

Mobility is both a precondition and consequence of European integration. However, the EU's transport sector is on an unsustainable path that puts at stake our climate, public health and life quality: it is the only sector that has failed to reduce its climate impact over the past decades, seeing its CO2 emissions increase by 27% since 1990. It now accounts for almost 30% of all EU emissions. A growing dependency on oil has become a defining characteristic of the EU economy, with the explosive growth in road and air transport responsible for 70% of the EU's oil consumption.

Transport must therefore be a key focus if we are to have any chance of tackling climate change and reducing this dangerous dependency on imported oil, as well as avoiding a future energy supply crisis. Achieving this will require not only a different approach to transport policy but also a behavioural change in terms of our mobility. The Greens/EFA group is therefore strongly pushing for avoiding unnecessary transport operations in order to decouple transport growth from economic growth. The EU should shift the movement of persons and goods towards more sustainable modes of transport and improve the efficiency of all transport in order make the whole sector cleaner.