Issue 365 | 18 March 2013

Alternative fuels, single European sky, EU-Gibraltar and more...

Transport commissioner Siim Kallas heads up our cover feature on transport and fuel. He says that transport is the "largest oil consumer of all economic sectors in the EU", and that oil is going to become "more expensive" to import and "harder to obtain from unstable parts of the world". Therefore, he says, it makes sense "to develop and promote innovative and alternatives." Rebecca Harms, a shadow rapporteur on reducing CO2 emissions from new passenger cars: modalities for reaching the 2020 target, writes that "the efficiency of a vehicle will be more and more important for consumers when buying a new car". She also thinks that we should be looking "beyond 2020" when setting emissions targets, instead looking ahead to 2025. While environment, public health and food safety committee member Kriton Arsenis argues that the EU needs to make a clear distinction between "good" and "bad" biofuels.