Download this issueEU green light for lorry pollution charges
On 23 May an agreement was reached between the European Commission, Council and Parliament on revised road charging rules for lorries (the Eurovignette directive) that would open the door for member states to charge for air and noise pollution in road tolls but introduces a loophole for lorries under twelve tonnes.
Nina Renshaw at green group Transport & Environment (T&E), said: "This agreement will enable countries to directly target the noisiest and most polluting lorries, which is a significant step forward. But it still forbids charges to cover the €60 billion costs of climate change, congestion and accidents caused by lorries – that's a wasted opportunity and is unnecessarily restrictive."
In a step backwards, a requirement in the existing directive for charges to apply to all lorries from 3.5 tonnes upwards from 2012 has been scrapped. Following pressure from Germany, member states will now be able to give lorries under 12 tonnes a free ride, under certain conditions.
The agreement between the three EU institutions now needs to be formally approved by transport ministers and the full parliament before becoming law.
Source: Transport & Environment, 24 May 2011
Europe should take an integrated approach to nitrogen management. This is the main message of the European Nitrogen Assessment, a new report launched during the "Nitrogen and Global Change" conference, in Edinburgh (UK) from 11–14 April, 2011.
The number of premature deaths in Europe caused by air pollutant emissions from international shipping is estimated to amount to approximately 49,500 in the year 2000, and rise to 53,200 in 2020.
There are sufficient resources to provide the world with renewable energy. The main constraint on development is public policy, that is the main message in a new IPCC report.
A handful of measures targeting black carbon and tropospheric ozone can reduce future global warming by 0.5°C, according to a UNEP and WMO report.
Germany's lignite power plants still dominate the CO2 list. Serbia is registering emissions for the first time and enters both the NOx list and the SO2 list.
Mercury emissions from coal-fired plants can be cut by well over 90 per cent, but this fact has so far been neglected in ongoing talks for a revised Heavy Metals Protocol.
As no revision of the European Air Quality legislation is planned until at least 2013, the EU has said it will focus on source-oriented legislation in the meantime. Often neglected in comparison to regulations concerning road vehicles, the so-called "non-road" sector, which includes locomotive ..
"Curbing mobility is not an option," says the European Commission in a new roadmap for the transport sector, expressing a view that immediately sparked criticism.
Prompt action is required to further reduce particulate matter, ground-level ozone, and nitrogen dioxide – an EU clean air strategy should be adopted in 2013.
Significant environmental improvements can be achieved while additional costs still stay well below 0.1 per cent of GDP. Moreover, health benefits alone outweigh the costs by ten times or more.
