{"id":22219,"date":"2019-06-06T07:53:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T07:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=22219"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:47:19","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:47:19","slug":"greenpeace-activists-demand-eu-transport-ministers-tackle-the-growing-impact-of-the-transport-sector-a-driving-force-of-the-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/22219\/greenpeace-activists-demand-eu-transport-ministers-tackle-the-growing-impact-of-the-transport-sector-a-driving-force-of-the-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace activists demand EU Transport Ministers tackle the growing impact of the transport sector \u2014 a driving force of the climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg \u2014 Activists from Germany, Poland, Belgium and Greenpeace Luxembourg are peacefully demonstrating outside a meeting of EU Transport Ministers in Luxembourg with a crashed car and large banner reading: \u201cDon\u2019t crash the climate!\u201d. The activists are challenging ministers to tackle the growing impact of the EU transport sector in driving the climate crisis. <\/span><\/p>\n

The activists called for commitments to phase out new diesel and petrol cars, as an important step in decarbonising transpor<\/span>t. Despite the fact that 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe come from the transport sector \u2014 with 45% of that from cars alone \u2014 ministers are expected to largely ignore this concern in today\u2019s meeting.[1]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the throes of a climate emergency. The transport sector keeps increasing its emissions and is one of the largest contributors to this crisis. National governments and EU decision-makers must take urgent action to roll out a sustainable transport revolution, starting with commitments to phase out petrol and diesel cars as soon as possible,\u201d said Barbara Stoll, Greenpeace International project lead for the Clean Air Now Campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cScientists have warned governments that we have a very small window left to reverse course and address the climate crisis we are facing. <\/span>As this is the only meeting of transport ministers ahead of a summit in June expected to discuss the EU\u2019s long-term climate plan, <\/span>decarbonising the transport sector<\/span> cannot be treated as simply another agenda item \u2014 it must be a true accounting of the role transport plays in this climate emergency. <\/span>We see this as an opportunity for European Ministers to discuss how the sector can and must be included in the EU\u2019s long-term climate plan \u2014 because <\/span>we simply cannot tackle climate change without tackling transport.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To fulfil Europe\u2019s commitment to the Paris climate agreement and limit global warming to 1.5\u00b0C, Greenpeace is calling on the EU to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% by 2030, and achieve a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.[2] Additionally, it is critical that we <\/span>rebuild our approach to urban mobility by investing heavily in public transport that is powered by renewable energy, cycling, and walking infrastructures, and by shifting from road to rail transport. <\/span><\/p>\n

This peaceful action comes after the release of <\/span>Greenpeace\u2019s Phase-Out Date Map <\/span><\/a>\u2014 <\/span>a global map of commitments made by cities and national governments to phase-out the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and <\/span>get diesel and petrol cars off the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most governments have lacked the urgency the environmental crisis calls for \u2014 either by setting ICE phase-out dates too late or not at all; or through weak implementation of car restriction measures and transport policies that lack consistency with the climate challenge. As research by the German Aerospace Institute underlines, <\/span>for the EU to <\/span>honour its commitments to limit global warming to 1.5\u00b0C, it must end the sale of petrol, diesel and conventional hybrid cars by 2028.[3]<\/span><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/span><\/p>\n

Media briefing can be found <\/span>here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Photos and videos for press use can be found <\/span>here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Follow the activists\u2019 messages on <\/span>Twitter here<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/a>Notes:<\/span>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>[1] <\/span>https:\/\/www.eea.europa.eu\/data-and-maps\/indicators\/transport-emissions-of-greenhouse-gases\/transport-emissions-of-greenhouse-gases-11<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

[2] <\/span>https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/1718\/media-briefing-eus-last-chance-to-tackle-climate-change\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

[3] <\/span>http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/archive-belgium\/Global\/belgium\/report\/2018\/20180907_GP_EUCarFleet_1.5.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Contacts: <\/b><\/p>\n

Greenpeace Clean Air Now International Communications Lead, Greenpeace Belgium: Lauren Reid, <\/span>LReid@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a>: + 44 <\/span>7367 074602<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace Clean Air Now Project Lead, <\/span>Greenpeace Belgium<\/span>: Barbara Stoll, <\/span>BStoll@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a>: +44 7985 637173<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace International Press Desk,\u00a0pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/a>, phone: +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0<\/i>@greenpeacepress<\/i><\/a>\u00a0on twitter for our latest international press releases<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The activists are challenging ministers to tackle the growing impact of the EU transport sector in driving the climate crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":22222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[87],"p4-page-type":[98],"class_list":["post-22219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-oil","p4-page-type-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22219"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22224,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22219\/revisions\/22224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22219"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=22219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}