Setting the agenda for a sustainable future

"In sustainable transport, the EU is an agenda-setter." András Siegler, director in the transport section of the European Commission’s research department, is in no doubt that the EU has the brains and the policies to find the cars, aeroplanes, trains and even boats of the future.

‘Sustainability’, he explains, means several things for road transport. Generally it is about the long-term environmental and urban planning credentials of roads and vehicles.

Over the next seven years, the EU’s seventh framework programme for funding research, FP7, will allocate €4.16 billion to transport research, out of a total €32bn ‘co-operation programme’. This makes it the sector allocated the third highest level of research funding, after health and the information society.

It is not yet known how much of this will go to projects that are overtly about sustainable transport: an assessment of the first batch of funding applications is expected in the coming weeks. But if FP7 follows the example set by FP6 from 2003-06, cleaner, lighter vehicles and quieter streets can expect support from the Commission’s flagship research fund.

In January 2005, the Human Oriented Sustainable Transport (HOST) project started work with money from FP6. Researchers from the University of Rome La Sapienza applied to the Commission for money to look into the development of a smaller, multi-purpose vehicle frame, suited to the overcrowded streets of Rome.

La Sapienza was given €2 million and started work with a team including Italian designer Bertone, known for its work with Fiat, Ferrari and Volvo. They presented the results earlier this year: a small, quiet, hybrid engine vehicle chassis. The chassis can be fitted with the bodywork of a car or freight truck for day use, or of a minibus or waste collection van at night.

Car company Fiat hopes to start producing the chassis at the end of this year and market it - after two or three years of safety tests - to several European cities.

Over roughly the same time period, a project known as NICHES was also operating, this time with €1m from FP6. NICHES pulled together representatives of EU cities to discuss the best way of improving urban transport. "One size does not fit all, but one size does fit many," said Siegler, explaining why it should save time and money for cities to keep an eye on each other’s progress.

In January this year, NICHES singled out four particularly impressive sustainable transport projects: a car-sharing project in Bremen, which has since been adopted in Brussels, improved city freight management in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, the reduction of emissions through the use of recycled oil to run buses in Graz and a package of measures including green zones adopted in Barcelona.

A third sustainable transport initiative, still underway, is the SLC project, which aims to reduce vehicle emissions through the development of new lightweight car materials. SLC brings together seven car companies, led by Volkswagen, plus academic researchers and product designers.

This project aims to reduce car emissions at the same time as cutting average car weight by 30%, without jeopardising other high EU car standards. According to Siegler, "reducing weight is a key issue for trains, planes and automobiles. But there is a delicate balance to strike between weight and safety".

The new materials being developed, including a fibre-reinforced plastic, will also be more expensive than traditional vehicle materials.

Many research ideas for Commission funding are thought up through EU technology platforms, managed by the Commission and industry groups. Perhaps the most high profile of these ideas to be affected by FP7 is the Clean Skies joint technology initiative.

Following years of talks between industry groups, researchers and politicians, Clean Skies was allocated €800m over the next seven years to cut aeroplane carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 50% and noise levels by 60% by 2020.

Industry and other contributions will bring the total up to €2.7bn.

Siegler hopes that, here again, the EU can prove it is setting the sustainable transport agenda.

"In sustainable transport, the EU is an agenda-setter." András Siegler, director in the transport section of the European Commission’s research department, is in no doubt that the EU has the brains and the policies to find the cars, aeroplanes, trains and even boats of the future.