Green transport benefits 'not being realised'

Date: 29/4/2010

A trend to travel further distances is offsetting the advances being made in the production of cleaner vehicles, new research from the European Environment Agency (EEA) suggests.

In its latest report, Towards A Resource-Efficient Transport System, the EEA Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism called for a "clear vision defining Europe's transport system by 2050".

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director at EEA, said that steps need to be taken to reconnect mobility with transport emissions.

"Today, we can see that the extensive investment in transport infrastructure has enabled us to travel further to meet our daily needs, but has not led to a decrease in the amount of time that we are exposed to noise, congestion and air pollution," she said.

The report found that freight transport tends to grow at a slightly quicker rate than the economy, with road and air freight recording the largest increases in growth between 1997 and 2007.

It also found that greenhouse gas emissions from transport, excluding international aviation and maritime transport, grew by 28 per cent between 1990 and 2007 in EEA countries, now accounting from approximately one-fifth of total emissions.