Skip to main content

EU having ‘intense’ discussions over ‘low-carbon mobility’ goals

According to Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission vice-president for the Energy Union, the European Commission is having “very intense discussions” with member states over the individual emissions reduction percentage that they will be assigned to reduce emissions in sectors not covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), says Euractiv. Šefčovič devoted substantial attention to the situation in the non-ETS sector and to the issue of ‘low-carbon mobility’, or reducing emissions from transport. The non-ETS se
June 3, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
According to Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission vice-president for the Energy Union, the European Commission is having “very intense discussions” with member states over the individual emissions reduction percentage that they will be assigned to reduce emissions in sectors not covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), says Euractiv.

Šefčovič devoted substantial attention to the situation in the non-ETS sector and to the issue of ‘low-carbon mobility’, or reducing emissions from transport. The non-ETS sectors refer to areas not covered by the Scheme for greenhouse gases, which currently covers mainly power generation and energy-intensive industries such as cement, chemicals and steelmaking.

Šefčovič stressed that without breakthroughs in new technologies, research and innovation, it would be a big challenge to achieve global targets for 2030, 2050, and to have a carbon-neutral economy by the end of the century, as EU countries committed to at COP21.

He said that the Pact of Amsterdam approved on 31 May was a very good setting for moving the agenda forward, thanks to bottom-up initiatives and involving mayors, who very much want to be part of this initiative, and NGOs.

The Pact of Amsterdam, which establishes the Urban Agenda for the EU, will focus on a more effective and coherent implementation of existing EU policies in cities in the fields of environment, transport and employment.

According to Šefčovič, under COP21, EU countries need to present their roadmaps for how they plan to achieve their climate goals up to 2050, and that a first stock-taking would take place in 2020. He added that at EU level, the effort-sharing decisions would be adopted before the summer break, in one legislative package on low-carbon mobility.

Šefčovič stated that the European Commission would be working very closely with the member states, once its effort-sharing proposal was on the table.

“Currently we are on a very intense discussion at political and technical level with our member states on what should be the percentage we would offer to each member state by which they would need to reduce GHG emission in non-ETS sector, meaning transport, agriculture and the buildings,” Šefčovič said.

Related Content

  • Cautious welcome for US transportation bill extension
    July 31, 2015
    The US Senate's approval of the three-month MAP-21 extension and the ongoing work in the US Senate to pass a long-term surface transportation authorisation bill has received a cautious welcome from many US transportation authorities. Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) president and CEO Regina Hopper commented: “While the country is in desperate need of a long-term transportation initiative, we remain hopeful that the three-month extension will provide time for the House and Senat
  • CEF funds to be used for EFSI ‘only as a last resort’
    April 17, 2015
    Parts of the European Commission’s proposals for the European Fund for Strategic Investments, which foresee the reallocation of US$3.5 billion from the Connecting Europe Facility to provide a part of the US$17 billion for the guarantee fund should be deleted, Transport MEPs suggested in their opinion approved on Tuesday. This target amount should instead be met by gradual budgetary commitments to the guarantee fund to be decided in the frame of the annual budgetary procedure, they add. Instead of cuttin
  • ASECAP examines tolling during downturns
    September 22, 2014
    ASECAP debated the impact of the financial crises on Europe’s tolling companies and considered the future in diverse economies. Colin Sowman picks some of the highlights. This year ASECAP (Association Europeenne des Concessionnaires d’Autoroutes et d’Ouvrages a’ Peage, with members in 21 countries managing 46,000km of roadway) held its annual Study & Information Days in Athens, Greece – one of the country hardest hit by recent economic problems. While the theme of the conference, Ensuring Sustainability in
  • Progress towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure
    July 17, 2012
    Kallistratos Dionelis, General Secretary of ASECAP, makes the case for a lightly regulated, staged progression towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure environment, the achievement of which should look to engender cooperation between the public and private sectors. Such an approach, he says, is the only real path to success.