The huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions from Ireland's transport sector since 1990 is nearly six times higher than the European average, according to a new report published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
It says transport emissions "remain a key, but avoidable, obstacle to the EU reaching its Kyoto climate change targets". Under the protocol, adopted in 1997, the EU agreed to an 8 per cent reduction in its overall emissions by 2012, based on 1990 levels.
But the EEA report, Transport and Environment: on the Way to a New Common Transport Policy, says the "spiralling demand for transport" has resulted in an increase of 20 per cent in passenger transport volumes between 1990 and 2003.
While emissions from most other sectors - energy supply, industry, agriculture and waste management - dropped over the same period, transport emissions rose substantially, "driven by this increase in demand". Air transport grew most, by 96 per cent.
Transport is responsible for 21 per cent of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. Road transport contributes 93 per cent of the total, but emissions from international aviation are growing fastest, with an increase of 86 per cent between 1990 and 2004.
Emissions from transport (excluding marine and aviation) grew most in Luxembourg and Ireland between 1990 and 2004, with increases of 156 per cent and 140 per cent respectively, compared to an average of 25 per cent in the EEA's 32 member countries.
Prof Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the EEA, said: "We cannot deal with the increasing greenhouse gas emissions, noise pollution and landscape fragmentation caused by transport without dealing with the increasing traffic across the spectrum. By suggesting that we simply deal with the environmental impacts of transport, the mid-term review of the [EU's] 2001 White Paper on transport could be interpreted as a softening of Europe's line on the need to deal with transport volumes. This cannot be the case."
Prof McGlade said technical advances such as cleaner, more fuel-efficient engines were very important, "but we cannot innovate our way out of the emissions problem from transport - on our roads and railways, in the air and by sea".
The report highlights the significant role of subsidies in terms of influencing transport choices. Up to €290 billion is spent annually in Europe in transport subsidies - almost half of which go to road transport, "one of the least environmentally friendly modes".
Pollution from transport is also having a direct effect on our health, it says. Almost 25 per cent of the EU's population live less than 500 metres from a major road. "As a result, almost four million life-years are lost each year due to high pollution levels."
Referring to biofuel targets, the EEA says the European Commission and member states "must address the concerns expressed by an increasing number of countries and stakeholders about negative impacts of biofuels on the environment".
