EU – TIGHTER EMISSIONS FOR TRANSPORT A CLEAR WIN-WIN STRATEGY

Strong environmental policies in transport will enable European firms to take the lead in technology development and help address many of today\'s geopolitical tensions, writes Jos Dings, director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment. In this analysis, Dings writes that today the transport sector is not moving in a sustainable direction: CO2 emissions and oil use are up 32 percent since 1990, cancelling out the progress made in other sectors. Policy should be focused on energy efficiency, not finding replacement energy sources to guzzle. Rather than set targets for production of specific alternative fuels, we need targets for reducing the \'\'carbon footprint\'\' of transport fuels, which would let the fuel industry find the most cost effective way of reducing emissions while rewarding the biofuel industry for delivering carbon savings. Whether you believe in helping the environment or restoring the balance of power in the global energy market, more sustainable transport, less energy consumption, and lower CO2 emissions is a win-win strategy.