Sustainable Transportation
Contents
Definition
Sustainable Transportation is the provision of mobility for people and goods, across land, water and air in a long-term sustainable manner.
Transport operations consume one-third of all energy in the EU. The bulk of this energy comes from oil. This means that transport is responsible for a large share of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and is a major contributor to climate change. While most other economic sectors, such as industry, have reduced their emissions since 1990, those from transport have risen. Preliminary estimates from EU Member States show that GHG Emissions from transport were 28% above 1990 levels in 2017. They now account for more than one quarter of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This presents a major challenge in addressing transport sector emissions to ensure that the EU’s emission reduction target is met. Although vehicle efficiency improvements have had a mitigating effect on GHG emissions, growing transport demand and a sluggish share of low-carbon solutions have outweighed it.
Within the transport sector, road transport is the dominant emissions source, accounting for more than two-thirds (72.1%) of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Passenger cars and vans are responsible for the bulk of these emissions, the rest resulting from trucks and buses. Road transport is followed by shipping and aviation as the second and third largest sources of GHG emissions from transport.
The transport sector represents about 30% of additional annual investment needs for sustainable development in the Union.
Subjects Covered
To make a substantial contribution to climate mitigation, the activities and technical screening criteria (hereafter criteria) included in the Taxonomy need to focus on the main emissions sources from the transport sector. Reducing the GHG emissions from road transport is therefore key. For road vehicles there is a well-developed legislative framework in the EU that includes mandatory emissions testing. This system is most mature for cars and vans. It has recently evolved significantly for trucks, and buses are set to follow.
Rail and inland waterways are also important emissions sources covered by the Taxonomy. Compared to road and air, they can provide modal shift benefits. However, EU legislation provides less direct orientation regarding these modes of transport.
While public transport and the infrastructure for low-carbon transport in themselves are smaller sources of GHG emissions, they are vital to achieve systemic change towards more sustainable mobility and are therefore also included in the Taxonomy.
Linkages between the transport sector and other economic activities in the Taxonomy
The transport section of the climate mitigation Taxonomy deals primarily with greening of operations of vehicle/vessel fleets and the associated enabling infrastructure. There are several principal climate mitigation options for the greening of the transport sector including:
- Increasing the number of low- and zero emission vehicles
- Improving vehicle efficiency and infrastructure
- Substituting fossil fuels with alternative and net-zero carbon fuels
- Improving efficiency of the overall transport/mobility system
Climate mitigation in the transport sections of the Taxonomy is linked to supporting activities elsewhere. These are so called ‘greening by’ activities and include:
- Production of low- and zero emission vehicles in line with requirements outlined in EU legislation (included in the manufacturing section of the Taxonomy)
- Low-carbon and net-zero energy carriers and fuels for the transport sector (included in the energy section)
- Digital solutions (included in the ICT section)
- Construction of enabling infrastructure
Setting criteria and thresholds
The general Taxonomy approach for the transport section was inspired by the long-term strategic options for decarbonisation of the transport sector as per the Commission’s long-term strategic vision A Clean Planet for All. The associated criteria proposed can therefore be grouped into three categories below, as identified in the Long Term Strategy. Criteria developed for fleet efficiency and fuel substitution have been designed to be discrete. There is no intention on the part of the TEG to undermine the approach in existing regulations covering these different aspects.
Efficient, low- and zero direct emissions fleets
This category requires that operated vehicles become more efficient over time by linking eligibility to emissions performance below a certain threshold set to ensure substantially reduced emissions.
Thresholds are based on performance metrics (vehicle km, passenger km or tonne km). They are mode specific and are linked to available testing methods. They require efficiency improvements without being technology prescriptive, so long as the benefits of relevant technologies can be demonstrated.
The operation of vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions, or close to zero tailpipe emissions, is automatically eligible in the proposed criteria. Vehicle/vessel electrification is the main category in this context. This approach is also motivated by ETS inclusion and the ongoing decarbonisation of the EU power sector.
Fuel substitution to net-zero carbon fuels
The operation of vehicle fleets where fossil fuels are substituted with low- or net-zero carbon fuels such as advanced bio- and synthetic fuels can make a substantial contribution to CO2 net emissions savings in the transport sector. The criteria for producing these fuels are set elsewhere in the Taxonomy. The transport section outlines criteria for their use in fleets.
In the activity technical criteria below, the TEG considers a role for biofuels in four activities where commercialisation of zero tailpipe emissions vehicles or vessels is limited to date and where the operating conditions for the vehicles or vessels may slow the implementation of zero emissions alternatives, including Freight transport services by road; Interurban scheduled road transport services of passengers; Inland passenger water transport; Inland freight water transport.
The proposed criteria limit their eligibility for use in certain modes and for dedicated fleets, where it is understood that these fuels and the finance needed to support a shift can have a greater role to play from a climate mitigation perspective through the substitution of fossil fuels. TEG notes that it’s important to ensure that biofuels are solely used to realise the maximum benefits of fuel substitution. As such, the criteria proposed also require a strict monitoring regime to ensure that these particular fuels are used.
As an example of how this might work in practice, a road freight transport operator may seek to operate a new or existing fleet of trucks solely using an eligible fuel (e.g. advanced fuel). To meet the Taxonomy criteria, the operator would need to demonstrate through ongoing verification that the fleet was solely using biofuels as specified in the criteria. A financier may be able to claim its investment (e.g. in a new fleet) was Taxonomy eligible through a contractual agreement with an operator to solely use biofuels, also establishing a verification system to enable ongoing monitoring.
Improving the efficiency of the transport system - modal shift
An important contribution to meeting GHG targets and reducing environmental pressures from the transport sector could come from a modal shift from aviation and road transport to rail and non-motorised passenger transport, as well as from road to rail and waterborne freight transport. However, modal shift is not included as a distinct economic activity with associated criteria in the proposed Taxonomy due to the complexities of capturing it in a robust, unambiguous manner within the given Taxonomy architecture. Instead, the proposed Taxonomy acknowledges the potential carbon savings from a modal shift and therefore sets similar thresholds across modes, which indirectly promotes modal shifts (e.g. a greater proportion of fleets in lower carbon modes are Taxonomy eligible, facilitating investment in these activities). The relative emissions performance of modes will change over time as technologies evolve and uptake increases, therefore the approach taken within the Taxonomy should be reviewed in the future.
