Europe is on track to save around 20 million tonnes of CO2 this year, as a result of the continued switch to electric vehicles, a new study by Transport & Environment (T&E) has found.
According to T&E’s State of European Transport report, while transport emissions are structurally decreasing, the progress made in cutting CO2 emissions from the road is being offset by an increase in air travel.
T&E has called on the EU to ensure that it does not roll back green policies, ‘which are crucial for its energy independence, just when they are starting to work’, it noted.
Green policies
“The EU’s green policies are beginning to bite,” commented William Todts, executive director at T&E. “Thanks to the switch to EVs, we are starting to see a structural decline in transport emissions.
“Europe is slowly releasing itself from its dependence on oil, but we are still spending hundreds of billions on imports from overseas powers. Now is not the time to roll back green measures. For the continent’s prosperity and security, now is the time to double down.”
Transport emissions
Last year, the transport sector in Europe emitted 1.05 billion tonnes of CO2, down from 1.1 billion tonnes in 2019, equating to a 5% drop over the five-year period – largely down to increased use of EVs.
By the end of this year, close to nine million electric cars are set to be on Europe’s roads, and without the shift to EVs, this would have resulted in an additional 20 million tonnes of CO2 being generated, T&E said – equivalent to the emissions from seven coal-fired power plants.
Emissions from aviation continue to rise, however, with T&E noting that in 2024, Europe’s airlines emitted 143 million tonnes of CO2, close to a 10% increase from 2023. Shipping emissions remain high as well, with the sector emitting 195 million tonnes of CO2.
‘With shipping now included in the EU’s carbon market (ETS), both sectors combined will have raised €5 billion in revenues in 2024, according to T&E estimates,’ it added. ‘That could rise to €30 billion a year by the end of the decade. These funds can be used to bridge the price gap between green e-fuels and traditional fossil fuels,’ T&E noted. Read more here.
Read more: Global electric vehicle sales 50% higher than a year ago
