Page 7 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2020 publication
P. 7
Spring 2020 European Energy Innovation 7
SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY
excessively incentivised. For road When you have a look
transport, it is a matter of top priority at the EU cities, the city
to review the directive on road centres are becoming
infrastructure charges, to comply more and more carless.
with the ‘polluter pays’ and ‘user pays’
principles. The EU Emission Trading
System should be extended to
maritime transport. And regarding rail,
the night trains should be supported
to make credible alternatives to air
transport available.
In a nutshell, those measures are some When it comes to public transport, and a half. Important successes have
examples of the transport contribution the vehicles should also comply with indeed been recorded for our political
to the climate policy we need. very ambitious energy targets and families, partly in regional/local areas.
be completely clean. Last year, after
Urban mobility has a key role some rounds of negotiations, we have The last Belgian local elections have
This is however not the end of the agreed, together with the Council of shown a strong interest in climate
story, and the cities are definitely the European Union, to make the policy and several Green mayors
on the first lines when it comes to threshold of clean vehicles used by have been elected. On the French
face the impacts of climate change. public authorities upper. This is a first part, the local elections that will take
Urban transport is responsible for up step, but it is also up to the cities place in some weeks are a massive
to 25% of all CO2 emissions and for to take the lead and to impulse a opportunity for the Green party.
some 70% of all emissions in urban dramatic change by themselves.
areas that are responsible for climate While Green mayors will surely be
change. Banning fossil fuels and setting elected, we shouldn’t miss this
up 0-emission areas will make occasion. Let’s convert the try and
With estimates that suggest that by the cities cleaner, which logically let’s show everyone we are the most
2050 up to 82% of EU citizens will induces positive outcomes on successful decision-makers for
live in urban areas, the pressure on health. Air pollution is THE illness climate policy!
urban areas will only become higher. of our century. Every year, 800,000
The challenges are therefore huge persons prematurely die because In this context, many of local political
regarding urban mobility. of air pollution across Europe, and decision-makers can be inspired
more than 8 million across the World. by good practices. For instance, in
Concretely, the biggest game changer Change of paradigm will then benefit Bremen (Germany), governed both by
is for cars. This is the first move. to everyone. the Green and the Socialist party since
When you have a look at the EU 2007, 25% of the roads are “equipped”
cities, the city centres are becoming Last but not least, the experiences with biking lines, as well as the bikes
more and more carless. It is dirty, it is on gratuity of public transport have take priority in some boulevards.
noisy and it is not effective. According resulted in successes, such as in
to some reports, between 0-10km, Dunkerque (North of France) and In Ixelles (Belgium), the new
electric biking is the fastest and most other French cities. This initiative Green majority has decided to
reliable mode of transport. should therefore be replicated in the set up hundreds of bike parking
European Union. It benefits to the infrastructures next to the road
It is therefore of major importance to lower social classes, since they do intersections, to foster cycling and
develop alternatives to private cars. not pay for this service neither for the to make sure the cars cannot park
Soft mobility (i.e. bikes, rollers) is car. The rate occupancy of transport in this specific location, to make the
one of the solutions in this context, significantly grows up (up to 125%), pedestrian experience safer.
as well as making the streets as well as the traffic jam decreases. I
pedestrians. But we should not would like gratuity to be applicable in As presented, urban mobility can and
forget the citizens with low-mobility hundreds of European cities. must contribute to climate policies
capacities or those who live in the and to make the transport emissions
suburbs, far away from the economic The Green Wave and urban mobility lower. And I am ready to help the
centres. This is why privileging The Green wave in Europe has been local authorities that are keen on
extended and efficient public a political reality over the past year making this change a reality. ●
transport systems must be a priority.
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