Ambitious and aggressive policy measures are the only way to achieve the significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions required from the transport sector to help avoid dangerous climate change, according to a European Commission study.

The announcement, revealed in a study led by leading energy and climate change consultancy AEA, is aimed at stimulating action to decarbonise the EU transport sector.

"EU Transport GHG: Routes to 2050?” has focused on the period 2020 to 2050 - beyond existing EU GHG reduction commitments and policies. The outputs from this work will be used to help develop the long-term policy framework for cutting transport emissions, and will inform discussions on high-level targets for emissions reductions out to 2050.

Sujith Kollamthodi, practice leader for transport at AEA said: “Transport has one of the fastest growing greenhouse gas emissions trajectories by sector and there is now an urgent need for a long-term sustainable policy framework to curtail and reverse this trend.

“AEA has examined all the options, but it is clear that there is no silver bullet - only an ambitious combination of the available policy measures will enable us to achieve the significant emissions reductions needed in the transport sector.”

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