Transport & Environment (T&E)

NEW: Today’s biggest cruise ships are more than twice as big as they were in 2000. At the current rate of growth, the biggest cruise ships in 2050 could become almost 8x bigger than the Titanic. These “Cruisezillas” are bringing an explosion in emissions, made worse by a rapid growth in the number of cruise holidays. Emissions from cruise ships were already nearly 20% higher in 2022 than in 2019, while the number of cruise ships globally rose from 21 in 1970 to 515 today. Cruise liners should use their ballooning profits to invest in green technologies that reduce their impact on the plant and local air pollution, while not getting distracted by fake solutions like LNG. Meanwhile, cruise ships pay no fuel duty or most corporate and consumer taxes. Adding just a €50 tax on a typical cruise ticket would bring in €1.6 billion globally which could be used for climate finance, especially in support of developing countries. Read the full report at the link in our comments. #CruiseShips #GreenFuels

There are few means of travel worse for the environment than a cruise ship. As these mega-ships grow in size as quickly as the industry itself, is there any way to reel in their climate impact? European cruise ships alone emitted more sulphurous oxides than 1bn cars in 2022, creating huge pollution in the cities where they dock. To get serious about addressing emissions from cruise ships, governments must enforce the greater use of genuine clean fuels and connection to shore-side electricity when docked. Read the article from The Guardian ➡️

Mining is on the way back to Europe, but the EU’s extraction rules are outdated. A new legal analysis finds the Extractive Waste Directive needs to be revised to strengthen rules on waste for new mines and ensure consistent application across the bloc. Best practices such as safer dry tailings methods should also become mandatory. Read the analysis at the link in the comments. Mohammed Chahim Sara Matthieu Tiemo Wölken Jutta Paulus #ExtractiveWaste #EuropeanMining

Tariffs alone will not save the market-share of European carmakers: they need to bring affordable EV models to market faster. Watch T&E's Julia Poliscanova on Bloomberg Television explain what the EU's tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles mean for local European industry 👇 #ElectricVehicles #Tariffs

Earlier this year, T&E found that over half of new vehicles are too wide for many on-street parking spaces in European cities. Car width continues to grow by 1 cm every two years, obstructing traffic but also bringing a higher risk of fatalities in collisions with pedestrians and cyclists. In February, residents of Paris took action by voting to triple parking fees for large SUVs. Will other European cities be inspired to re-evaluate their relationship with bigger and bigger cars on the road? Did you miss our report in January? Check it out at the link in the comments. #SUV #Paris #EuropeanCities

E-fuels in cars are super inefficient. Travelling the same distance with e-fuels requires more than 3x the amount of energy than direct electrification. Have you seen our 2024 State of Transport? Explore the Energy page for more about how we can move away from a transport system that relies on burning fossil fuels ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e3yze8BD #Transport #Decarbonisation #Efuels #ElectricVehicles

A new study by Imperial College London has found that higher flying aircraft create longer lasting contrails and thus likely more warming. However, long-haul flights, which usually operate at higher altitudes, have been excluded from the scope of the EU non-CO2 emissions monitoring mechanism, overlooking two thirds of aviation’s contrail climate impact. T&E calls upon the EU Commission to listen to the growing number of arguments underlying the need to reverse to the original full scope agreed by co-legislators. The IC study has also confirmed the link between jet fuel composition and contrail climate impact, showing SAFs, and while their production is being scaled up, jet fuels that are high quality, low-aromatic and low-sulfur, such as those created through hydrotreatment, are crucial. See our comments and the whole story in @newscientist 👇 👇 https://lnkd.in/egVtkr9k

How can Europe unlock its train travel potential? A recent report from Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe analysed 990 potential train routes between 45 major European cities and found that only 114 are served by direct train connections. Even in Vienna – the city with the most direct train connections – direct trains only run on 59% of possible routes. By starting daytime services or night trains on 305 of these routes, the EU could triple the number of direct rail connections available between major cities. The best part? These train tracks already exist. It’s now on the EU to incentivise rail operators to put these routes to use and usher in a new era of convenient, affordable train travel in Europe. Read the report from Greenpeace at the link in our comments. #Rail #EuropeanTravel #SustainableTransport

The low-cost model is driving unsustainable growth in the aviation sector at a time when we need to urgently be addressing the climate impact of travel. Meanwhile, thanks to tax exemptions and loopholes in carbon pricing schemes, legacy European carriers like Air France and Lufthansa paid for between as little as 7 and 16% of their emissions in 2023. The limited scope of European carbon markets means as much as 78% of aviation's total CO2 emissions were not paid for last year. The system is falling short when it comes to incentivising a shift away from fossil flying. This situation where a passenger pays more for their coffee at the airport than the airline pays for its pollution must come to an end. #Aviation #Pollution #CarbonPricing #LowCostAirline

Today, organizations from across the globe launched the hashtag #BeyondMethanePledge to stop the expansion of Liquefied Natural Gas #LNG and other #methane-based fuels, and phase-out their use in all sectors by 2030. Press release: https://lnkd.in/g9H4G8Z9 🛳 We call on industry leaders to sign the pledge and take immediate action. Signatories include policymakers, cities, ports, ship and cargo owners, investors, and financial institutions. 📢 We call on supporters to champion the pledge to mobilize the masses and hold industry accountable. Champions include residents, advocacy groups, non-governmental organizations, researchers and academic institutions, journalists, and thought leaders. Sign and champion the pledge: https://lnkd.in/grhJiiKY Founding champions: Pacific Environment Clean Arctic Alliance Transport & Environment (T&E) Solutions for Our Climate (기후솔루션) NABU e.V. Stand.earthClean Shipping Coalition