REPORT on the greening of transport and the internalisation of external costs

16.2.2009 - (2008/2240(INI))

Committee on Transport and Tourism
Rapporteur: Georg Jarzembowski

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

on the greening of transport and the internalisation of external costs

(2008/2240(INI))

The European Parliament,

–    having regard to the Commission communication of 8 July 2008 entitled ‘Greening Transport’ (COM(2008)0433),

–    having regard to the Commission communication of 8 July 2008 entitled ‘Strategy for the internalisation of external costs’ (COM(2008)0435),

–    having regard to the Commission communication of 8 July 2008 entitled ‘Rail noise abatement measures addressing the existing fleet’ (COM(2008)0432),

–    having regard to its resolution of 12 July 2007 on keeping Europe moving – Sustainable mobility for our continent[1], 

–    having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2008 on sustainable European transport policy, taking into account European energy and environment policies[2],

–    having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–    having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6‑0055/2009),

A.  whereas the European Union's objectives are to reduce greenhouse gases by 20%, increase the use of renewable energy sources to 20% and reduce energy consumption by 20%, all by 2020,

B.   whereas, as far as greening transport is concerned, the Commission has put forward a number of suggestions aimed at combating climate change, but, when it comes to taking the necessary action, it has produced no more than a communication on the internalisation of external costs, a communication on rail noise abatement, and one specific legislative proposal revising the tolls applicable to heavy goods vehicles,

C.  whereas Article 11, third paragraph, of the Eurovignette Directive[3] stipulated back in 2006 that: ‘No later than 10 June 2008, the Commission shall present, after examining all options including environment, noise, congestion and health-related costs, a generally applicable, transparent and comprehensible model for the assessment of all external costs to serve as the basis for future calculations of infrastructure charges. This model shall be accompanied by an impact analysis of the internalisation of external costs for all modes of transport and a strategy for a stepwise implementation of the model for all modes of transport.

The report and the model shall be accompanied, if appropriate, by proposals to the European Parliament and the Council for further revision of this Directive,

D.  whereas the Commission has convincingly described the public health nuisance caused by rail noise, however as a cornerstone to its rail noise abatement initiative, it is merely setting out a requirement for freight wagons to be retrofitted with low-noise brakes’,

Greening of transport

1.   Welcomes the Commission communication on greening transport as an important first partial step towards a more comprehensive approach making for environment-friendlier transport in its many and varied modes as well as recognition of the importance and necessity of making transport more efficient in the context of combating climate change;

2.   Points out that mobility greatly benefits personal quality of life, growth and employment in the EU, socio-economic and territorial cohesion, trade with non-EU countries, and the firms and employees involved directly or indirectly in the transport sector and logistics;

3.   Recognises that, as well as having positive effects and being indispensable for the European Union's economic development and socio-economic and territorial cohesion, mobility also entails adverse consequences for the natural environment and for people, and therefore maintains that European transport policy – without disregarding the legitimate interests of individuals and industry where mobility is concerned – should continue to aim to green the transport sector so as to cancel out, or at any rate reduce, the harmful effects of transport, in line with the Union's objectives on combating global warming by 2020;

4.   Welcomes the fact that the Commission, in its communication, has compiled an ‘inventory’ of EU measures to date to promote a sustainable transport policy;

5.   Regrets that the Commission has failed to produce an integrated plan to green transport, that is to say, covering every transport sector, but observes that the Commission has already taken preliminary initiatives which should ultimately lead to a comprehensive strategy for the internalisation of external costs in all modes of transport; and has so far instead:

-          adopted a piecemeal approach by submitting a first basic set of guidelines for estimating the external costs of transport and for their internalisation in individual sectors (see the 'Handbook on estimation of external costs in the transport sector'),

-          again opted for a stepwise solution by starting with a specific proposal for immediate application for higher road tolls for heavy goods vehicles by amending the Eurovignette Directive which is intended to permit Member States to charge for external costs, and even this would apply only in Member States that so wished, and,

-         as regards rail noise abatement, listed a range of options and future measures;

6.   Calls on the Commission, therefore, where every mode of transport is concerned, to provide for the measures and instruments required to make transport greener, taking into account the international conventions in force and the measures already implemented in the various transport sectors; with reference to those proposals, to conduct scientifically sound assessments of the impact of the individual measures and their competition implications in terms of modes as well as their impact on the costs of mobility and competitiveness; and, proceeding from that basis, to submit an integrated plan for the greening of transport, together with specific legislative proposals;

Internalisation of external costs

7.   Notes that in its communication on the strategy for the internalisation of external costs, the Commission has failed to fulfil the obligation imposed on it by the Parliament and the Council, under the third paragraph of Article 11 of the Eurovignette Directive, since it has not – by its own admission – devised and put forward a generally applicable, transparent, and comprehensible model for the assessment of external costs as a whole, given that it has not analysed the impact on every mode of transport and, at the practical level, has produced only for heavy goods vehicles a first step for a strategy for the stepwise implementation of the model for all modes;

8.   Notes that the Commission communication made some statements regarding the calculation of external costs for the different modes of transport, referring to the abovementioned Handbook and the technical annexes, which, given the disparate nature of its contributions, only shed light on a number of points;

9.   Notes that the Commission, in its communication, has failed to put forward scientifically coherent justifications for the charging of individual external costs to various modes of transport, and has adopted what it terms a ‘pragmatic approach based on the average cost’; generally supports the Commission's basis of marginal social cost pricing, in line with the White Paper on Transport of 2001;

10. Is disappointed that, beyond these contributions, the positive effects of transport in terms of economic growth and competitiveness ('positive externalities') have not been researched to any significant extent and have not been taken into account in the Commission's calculations, unlike external costs which have been the subject of extensive work; yet recognises the role of the 'Polluter Pays Principle' and expects the Commission to take further steps to develop this pragmatic approach; recognises the contributions made to date by the various modes of transport in the form of general taxation, vehicle and oil taxes, and road tolls to balance out real infrastructure building and maintenance costs and views this as the starting point for future work;

11. Notes the fact that the Commission has not so much as attempted in its communication to gauge, assess, and describe the impact that its proposed method for internalising external costs might have on competition among the various modes of transport and on the costs of mobility and competitiveness and calls on the Commission to do so when putting forward further proposals to green the transport sector;

12. Also deplores the fact that the Commission has not proposed measures to mitigate the effects of increased remoteness arising from EU enlargement and has not made any forecasts regarding the consequences of its application, in particular in those Member States with geographical barriers and for those which do not as yet have multimodal alternatives; calls, therefore, on the Commission to remedy these shortcomings as part of the forthcoming review of the trans-European transport networks (TENs);

13. Encourages the Commission, to this end, to submit a supplementary proposal for multimodal mobility corridors ('green corridors') as part of the review of the TENs, offsetting the burdens imposed by the present proposal by offering accessibility and mobility without obstacles;

14. Notes that the Commission is behaving inconsistently on several counts in that, on the one hand, it maintains that the internalisation of external costs should also apply to cars, but does not even supply related calculations, preferring instead to maintain the freedom of the Member States to charge passenger cars as they see fit therefore asks the Commission to publish a methodology for internalising the external costs of individual vehicles in order to provide the Member States with guidelines in compliance with the principle of subsidiarity;

15. Calls on the Commission to take steps without delay firstly, to produce specific proposals for all modes of transport and secondly, to perform the task deriving from Article 11, third paragraph, of the 2006 Eurovignette Directive by submitting a comprehensive plan for calculating and charging external costs and assessing their impact on the basis of a comprehensible model;

Rail noise abatement

16. Recognises that in its communication on rail noise abatement measures for the existing fleet, the Commission responds to the need to reduce the noise nuisance, from freight wagons in particular, for persons living by the side of railway lines;

17. Underlines that the retrofitting of wagons at a reasonable cost presupposes the resolution of the existing technical obstacles as soon as possible and before the adoption of any binding legislative measure;

18. Calls on the Commission to draw up a proposal for a directive with a view to introducing noise-related track access charges for locomotives and wagons in order to provide incentives as quickly as possible for railway undertakings to re-equip their fleets rapidly with low-noise vehicles by replacing brake blocks; considers that, if and wherever necessary, short-term measures may also be considered and that no legislative measure should have a negative impact on the rail sector in intermodal competition;

19. Looks to the Commission to provide in its proposal for a practicable way of ensuring, through earmarking of revenue, that upgrading of this kind will not be confined to wagons belonging to railway undertakings, but will also extend to wagons of other companies carried by railway undertakings;

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20. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

• [1]  OJ C 175 E, 10.7.2008, p. 556.
• [2]  Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2008)0087.
• [3]  Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 1999 on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42).

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The rapporteur has deliberately decided not to produce a written explanatory statement. This own-initiative report has to be comprehensible and logical as it stands, given that Parliament does not vote on or publish explanatory statements.

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

Date adopted	11.2.2009
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	26 16 0
Members present for the final vote	Gabriele Albertini, Etelka Barsi-Pataky, Paolo Costa, Michael Cramer, Luis de Grandes Pascual, Arūnas Degutis, Christine De Veyrac, Petr Duchoň, Saïd El Khadraoui, Robert Evans, Emanuel Jardim Fernandes, Francesco Ferrari, Brigitte Fouré, Mathieu Grosch, Georg Jarzembowski, Stanisław Jałowiecki, Timothy Kirkhope, Jaromír Kohlíček, Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Sepp Kusstatscher, Jörg Leichtfried, Bogusław Liberadzki, Erik Meijer, Josu Ortuondo Larrea, Reinhard Rack, Ulrike Rodust, Gilles Savary, Renate Sommer, Dirk Sterckx, Michel Teychenné, Silvia-Adriana Ţicău, Yannick Vaugrenard, Armando Veneto, Roberts Zīle
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Johannes Blokland, Armando França, Lily Jacobs, Elisabeth Jeggle, Eleonora Lo Curto, Ari Vatanen, Corien Wortmann-Kool
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present for the final vote	Samuli Pohjamo