{"id":95519,"date":"2018-10-30T13:32:38","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T12:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=95519"},"modified":"2018-12-04T10:25:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T09:25:21","slug":"eu-governments-announce-green-deal-for-transport-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/eu-governments-announce-green-deal-for-transport-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"EU governments announce \u201cgreen deal\u201d for transport in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u2018Graz Declaration\u2019 could be a turning point for air quality and transport in Europe<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ministers promise a \u201ctransformation\u201d of European mobility<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>More money for cycling, walking and safer streets<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>EU environment and transport ministers, meeting in Graz, Austria, have issued a statement declaring a \u201cgreen deal\u201d for the future of transport in Europe.<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eu2018.at\/latest-news\/news\/10-30-Meeting-of-environment-and-transport-ministers-was-dedicated-to-sustainable-mobility.html\">Governments have promised to deliver a rapid transformation<\/a> of European mobility, with new and reallocated funding, and new laws to support the changes.<\/p>\n<p>Green groups welcome the commitment to building cities where moving around on foot or by bike is safe, and where vulnerable road-users are protected. However, the statement omits any reference to crucial emissions standards for CO2 from cars and vans up to 2030.<\/p>\n<p><em>The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is Europe\u2019s largest network of environmental organisations, with around 140 members in over 30 countries.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Ministers have made a bold statement about the need for a \u201cnew era\u201d of \u201cclean, safe and affordable mobility for Europe\u201d. The declaration sets out how EU countries will work towards a climate-ready future for transport in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>It includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A promise to <strong>accelerate the introduction of low- and zero-emission vehicles<\/strong>, including the development of charging infrastructure<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>comprehensive EU strategy for sustainable transport<\/strong> with new laws ready by 2021<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>inclusion of the health benefits of active mobility in cost-benefit analyses<\/strong> for projects funded by the TEN-T connecting Europe fund.<\/li>\n<li>A commitment to \u201cactive\u201d and \u201csafe and inclusive\u201d mobility, acknowledging <strong>\u201chuman-powered mobility\u201d as an equal mode of transport<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A call for <strong>European funding<\/strong> for the \u201cdevelopment and implementation of plans, programmes and projects\u201d on active mobility<\/li>\n<li>A strengthening and extension of \u2018<strong>European Mobility Week<\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 which led to the popular \u2018Car Free Sunday\u2019 initiative in Belgium<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The declaration accepts that transportation must be transformed in order for Europe to meet its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement. This transformation will also make cities cleaner, safer and more pleasant places to live.<\/p>\n<p>However, an elephant in the room is emission standards for CO2 from cars and vans up to 2030. While governments will call for a further development of &#8220;emission regulations for road vehicles beyond 2030\u201d they omit any reference to the standards that will be required before that date.<\/p>\n<p>A European Environment Agency report released yesterday revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/98-of-eu-population-exposed-to-harmful-air-eea-report\/\">shocking figures about the numbers of EU citizens breathing air that harms their health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission has run out of patience with the speed at which a number of governments are tackling air pollution. Earlier this year <a href=\"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/eu-air-quality-limits-breached-on-a-continental-scale-six-countries-sent-to-ecj\/\">six governments, including Germany, the UK, France and Italy were sent to Europe\u2019s top court<\/a> for their failure to tackle toxic air pollution in their cities.<\/p>\n<p>Transforming Europe\u2019s transport should just be the beginning of a green deal for Europe. Cutting air pollution from other sources, such as heating and agriculture, must also be prioritised. The EU\u2019s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposal, now under discussion, is the perfect chance for governments to take action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Margherita Tolotto<\/strong>, EEB Clean Air Policy Officer said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMinisters are making an important statement of intent about the \u2018green deal\u2019 Europe needs to transform the way we get around. People across Europe want to live in clean, safe and liveable cities and this means fundamentally addressing our transport requirements. Active mobility brings significant benefits to our health and the air we breathe, and it reduces CO2 emissions. It\u2019s great that ministers are recognising this.<\/p>\n<p>While zero-emissions mobility is a priority, a traffic jam of zero-emissions cars is still a traffic jam and speeding vehicles can still pose a threat to vulnerable road users. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to think not just in terms of cutting emissions from vehicles, but also about how we can rebuild cities so they\u2019re better places to live.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the EU needs a \u2018green deal\u2019 that goes beyond transport and helps us tackle air pollution from other sources, like industry and agriculture, as well as helping to tackle the other major environmental issues of our time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_heading u--current-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eu2018.at\/latest-news\/news\/10-30-Meeting-of-environment-and-transport-ministers-was-dedicated-to-sustainable-mobility.html\">Meeting of environment and transport ministers was dedicated to sustainable mobility<\/a>, Austrian Presidency Press Release, 30 October 2018.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eu2018.at\/dam\/jcr:930474a9-0194-444b-840a-59c75de76ec2\/Graz%20Declaration.pdf\">The &#8216;Graz Declaration&#8217;<\/a>, 30 October 2018.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Graz Declaration\u2019 could be a turning point for air quality and transport in Europe &nbsp; Ministers promise a \u201ctransformation\u201d of European mobility &nbsp; More money for<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":95521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,128,3,4],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-95519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-quality","category-industry-health","category-news","category-press-release","tag-air-quality"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fietstraat.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}