Press Release: Greening Transport: new Commission package to drive the market towards sustainability

On 8 July, 2008, the European Commission put forward a package of new 'Greening Transport' initiatives to steer transport towards sustainability. First, a strategy to ensure that the prices of transport better reflect their real cost to society, so that environmental damage and congestion can gradually be reduced in a way that boosts the efficiency of transport and ultimately the economy as a whole. Second, a proposal to enable Member States to help make this happen through more efficient and greener road tolls for lorries, with the revenue to be used to reduce environmental impacts from transport and cut congestion. Third, a communication to reduce noise from rail freight. The package also included an inventory of existing EU measures on greening transport and a communication on the additional greening transport initiatives that this Commission will take before the end of 2009.

European Commission: MEMO/08/492: Greening Transport Package – Frequently asked questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/492&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

---