To measure is to know: accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from transport services enables sustainable mobility

Europe's goal to become climate neutral by 2050 requires immediate emission reductions. To support these efforts, citizens and businesses will need access to reliable information about the emissions footprint – including from transport, which is a key source of greenhouse gases.

Therefore, Renew Europe welcomes the TRAN/ENVI Committee's adoption today of a common EU method to account for greenhouse gas emissions of transports services. The new legislation will establish a single standardised framework to quantify greenhouse gas emissions covering all transport modes. The proposal does not make emissions reporting mandatory, but it ensures that when companies disclose transport emissions, they use a harmonised accounting method.

The aim of the proposal is to improve the quality and comparability of greenhouse gas emissions reporting and to increase transparency of emissions data. It will also help fight greenwashing in the form of inaccurate climate claims. This will be useful both for companies using transport services in their supply chain, and individual transport users, who want to compare the environmental impact of different options. Renew Europe has played a key role in strengthening this framework of the Parliament’s position and making the accounting rules more complete. At the same time, Renew Europe has ensured that SMEs are given full support in making use of it. A solid common accounting framework can encourage stakeholders in the transport sector, as well as their customers, to opt for more sustainable transport alternatives, thus contributing to reducing our emissions.

MEP Pascal Canfin (L’Europe Ensemble, France) and Renew Europe rapporteur on the file for ENVI says:

“This Regulation will incentivise more transparency of GHG emissions in the transport sector. It will help consumers and businesses to make informed choices when it comes to transport options, therefore accelerating the decarbonisation of the sector.”

MEP Nicola Danti (Italia Viva – Il Centro, Italy) Renew shadow rapporteur in TRAN says :

“Renew Europe was pivotal to strike an ambitious yet pragmatic compromise on CountEmissionsEU. We ensured that the voluntary tool for calculating greenhouse gas emissions for transport operators remains an opportunity to excel in transparency and sustainability, rather than turning into a mandatory administrative burden. We succeeded in introducing concrete safeguards for SMEs, with a simplified and free-of-charge calculation tool, securing a derogation from the use of primary data and protection from unfair market practices in case of subcontracted relationships. Renew Europe will always think small first, will always take care of our small businesses. And CountEmissionsEU was no exception to that.”