Green change possible if people see that it works

Opinion by Dudley Curtis - T&E Communications Manager
Dudley Curtis leaves T&E in August after eight years as communications manager. Here he reflects on how the campaign to force car makers to stick to a maximum average level of carbon dioxide emissions has evolved, and what this says about the chances of further environmental progress.

Commission set to back 2020 car CO2 limits

The Commission is planning to set 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre as the obligatory emissions limit for the average new car by 2020. T&E has welcomed the news but says developments elsewhere in the world mean the 95g limit may now be too weak to safeguard the EU’s leadership on fuel-efficient cars.

Commission reinterpretation on megatrucks is ‘undemocratic’ and ‘creates confusion’

EU rules governing the length and weight of lorries have been thrown into confusion by a unilateral ‘reinterpretation’ of an EU directive by the transport commissioner Siim Kallas. The commissioner’s move appears to abandon all length limits and opens the way for so-called ‘megatrucks’. A senior MEP has rejected the commissioner’s ‘reinterpretation’ and says the European Parliament is likely to challenge the decision, while T&E has described it as ‘undemocratic, confusing and incomprehensible’.

MEPs could be voting to make vehicles louder

Research carried out for T&E suggests there is a danger that new rules aimed at making vehicles quieter will in fact make them louder for the next 15 years.

Lorries set to become more aerodynamic

The EU has agreed to allow aerodynamic devices to be fitted to lorries that could cut fuel consumption and emissions of long-distance lorry journeys by 5-8%.

Lagarde calls for a ‘green economy’, and supports carbon charges for transport

The head of the International Monetary Fund has said the economic growth needed to get the world’s economies back to health must be ‘on a different track than before the crisis’. Christine Lagarde’s comments came just after a number of ex-finance ministers wrote to today’s European finance ministers, asking them to shift the burden from income tax and VAT on to carbon and energy taxes.

EU agrees to significant sulphur reduction in shipping fuels

Efforts to tackle air pollution from shipping have been boosted by an agreement that is expected to reduce by 85% the sulphur content of fuel used by ships in EU waters by 2020. 

Diesel emissions cause cancer

The World Health Organisation says exposure to exhaust emissions from diesel engines definitely increases the possibility of tumours. The WHO has previously said diesel exhausts were ‘probably’ carcinogenic, but now a WHO body, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, says it is definitely a cause of lung and possibly of bladder tumours.

Hungary lorry charge

Environmental groups in Hungary fear a surge of lorries on country roads after the Hungarian government agreed a toll for trucks that is limited to motorways and a few main roads. The toll will be a distance- and pollution-based charge coming into effect in July 2013.

Ministers’ call for road funding defies CEF agreement

EU transport ministers have contradicted the Commission’s transport infrastructure funding proposals by calling for some of the money to be diverted to road projects. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which replaces the fund for the trans-European transport networks (TEN-T), was put forward last year, with one of its main aims to help the EU achieve its target of reducing greenhouse gases by 60% between 1990 and 2050. For that reason, the Commission had proposed to concentrate funding on rail, intermodal and port projects.