Mobility without pollution

Europe seems to acknowledge it and is envisaging a real and true revolution aimed at “increasing mobility” while “reducing emissions”. It is proposals of the EU Commission that launched the “2050 Strategy” for a “long-term competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment”. To achieve this will require the full support of Brussels’ and Strasbourg’s institutions along with the involvement of EU27, civil society and the economic realm.Mobility and environmental protection. Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport said that the proposals “will dramatically reduce Europe’s dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050”. Key-goals and proposals include: “No more conventionally-fuelled cars in cities; 40% use of sustainable low carbon fuels in aviation; at least 40% cut in shipping emissions; 50% shift of medium distance intercity passenger and freight journeys from road to rail and waterborne transport”. However, the list of “operative proposals” is much richer. Kalls adds: “Transport 2050 is a roadmap for a competitive transport sector that increases mobility and cuts emissions”.A fundamental economic sector. The Commission released in-depth data providing an accurate picture of the situation. Indeed, states the EU Executive, “Mobility is vital for growth and job creation. The transport industry directly employs around 10 million people and accounts for about 5% of gross domestic product (GDP)”. Effective transport systems “are key to European companies’ ability to compete in the world economy. Logistics, such as transport and storage, account for 10-15% of the cost of a finished product for European companies”. Furthermore, “the quality of transport services has a major impact on people’s quality of life: On average 13.2% of every household’s budget is spent on transport goods and services”.Ability to compete and everyday life. According to Commissioner Kallas, “the widely held belief that you need to cut mobility to fight climate change is simply not true. Competitive transport systems are vital for Europe’s ability to compete in the world, for economic growth, job creation and for peoples’ everyday quality of life. Curbing mobility is not an option; neither is business as usual. We can break the transport system’s dependence on oil without sacrificing its efficiency and compromising mobility”. For the EU Commission the process leading to the creation of a Single European Transport Area sets out to remove major barriers and bottlenecks in many key areas across the fields of transport infrastructure and investment, innovation, and the internal market”. To this purpose, the roadmap puts forward 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade.Middle and long-term goals. At the Berlaymont building, the seat of the EU Commission, are identified the major challenges in this field such as the scarcity of oil, (while oil prices are projected to more than double); surging traffic congestion across Europe, along with corresponding polluting emissions increase. At the same time, freight transport activity is expected to increase and there is an urgent need to transform unequally developed transport infrastructure in all Member States. To this regard the Commission document states, “Infrastructure is unequally developed in the eastern and western parts of the EU. In the new Member States there are currently only around 4 800 km of motorways and no purpose-built high-speed rail lines; the conventional railway lines are often in poor condition”. “Transport 2050” thus envisages solutions requiring immediate action. Among the commitments for the next three-year period figure the improvement of the strategic infrastructure network, a major overhaul of the regulatory framework for rail (rail package 2012/2013), an “airport package” to improve the efficiency and capacity of airports, procedures for urban mobility and maritime transport.