How to Decarbonise EU Road Transport without Summoning the Gilets Jaunes

Summary:

The biggest obstacle to the decarbonisation of road transport is political: the costs of the shift will fall unevenly on different income groups and EU member-states, thus risking the growth of resentment. In reforming carbon pricing and energy taxation, the Commission should design these policies so that extra costs are shared in a way that citizens see as fair. People will need to experience positive changes, in the form of investments in expanded access to low-carbon transport options such as public transport, electric vehicles or bike schemes, before governments price them out of their fossil-fuelled vehicles as a prelude to banning them. Because of this urgency, it is important that governments strongly increase their investment in low-carbon transport now, while also taking advantage of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Both EU and national policy-makers need to summon pedestrians, cyclists and electric vehicles onto the streets, while denying the gilets jaunes any excuse to join them.

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ESO Records

EPRS Study: Sept 2017: Research for TRAN Committee – Decarbonisation of EU transport https://www.europeansources.info/record/research-for-tran-committee-decarbonisation-of-eu-transport/

Cardiff EDC: May 2018: Europe on the Move: Commission undertakes third and final set of actions to modernise Europe’s transport system https://www.europeansources.info/record/europe-on-the-move-commission-undertakes-third-and-final-set-of-actions-to-modernise-europes-transport-system/

European Commission: COM (2021) 400: EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’ https://www.europeansources.info/record/communication-on-pathway-to-a-healthy-planet-for-all-eu-action-plan-towards-zero-pollution-for-air-water-and-soil/

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