The European Commission has hosted a high-level conference in Brussels on the future of the European transport system, with IANGV’s European affiliate NGVA Europe participating as a representative of the regional NGV industry. The November 20th event marked the closing of two public consultations that the Commission launched in June 2009 with its Communication ‘A sustainable future for transport’ and its Green Paper ‘Trans-European transport network: A policy review’.
During the stakeholder meeting on “A sustainable future for transport” NGVA Europe was represented by its GM, Manuel Lage, who insisted on the benefits of natural gas and biomethane in transport and the necessity to give more attention to this fuel alternative on the European level.
In the final meeting on the main findings of the workshop, Mr. Matthias Ruete, Director General of DG Transport and Energy (DG TREN), recognised that the Commission should re-evaluate the contribution of NG/biomethane to a sustainable future for transport.
The event, hosted by Vice President Tajani with the support of the Swedish Presidency, aimed to identify policy measures that stakeholders — – transport operators, transport authorities, national, regional and local authorities, academics, user associations among others — would like to see in the next Commission’s White Paper on transport covering the decade 2010 to 2020.
The conference discussion panels were organised around three main topics:
- integrating transport modes, notably through infrastructure policy and the revision of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) policy;
- promoting innovative technologies for clean vehicles and traffic management; and
- responding to the future needs of both transport users and workers.
Key policy objectives of the Future of Transport Communication and of the TEN-T Green Paper were also informed by the discussion. These include the development of a multimodal and fully integrated TEN-T network; an alternative fuels’ policy; the deployment of innovative transport vehicles and technologies and the key position of transport users and workers as the main actors of tomorrow’s transport system.
More information, including a summary of the public consultation responses, is available here.
(Pre-conference press release)
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