The roadmap states that electricity will have to play a much greater role than now if decarbonisation plans for Europe are to be achieved and greenhouse gas emissions reduced by over 80% by 2050. This approach echoes the proposals recommended in the Transport White Paper published earlier this year.
CER emphasises that electrification of transport does not just mean electrifying road vehicles. Half of the European rail network is already electrified, and as there is no technical obstacle at all to electrifying most of the remaining half significant advances can be made if the political and economic will is there. Further electrification of the rail network is an efficient way to further advance the use of low-carbon transport. In contrast, there are considerable technical and economic issues still to overcome for electrification to advance significantly in the road sector.
A new Alliance for the Electrification of Surface Transport was launched by CER and the Union of the Electricity Industry (EURELECTRIC) on 9 December. In a Joint Statement, the organisations called for joint action and a robust policy framework to drive forward the electrification of surface transport in Europe. The statement pointed out that electrification will increasingly be the solution of choice for low carbon, low-oil surface transport, and Europe’s future prosperity and economic security depend on making that choice in a decisive manner. The full statement is available here.
“Through further electrifying the rail network in the next few years and encouraging modal shift towards rail, as envisaged in the Transport White Paper, the rail sector can play an important role in leading the way towards lower carbon transport,” said Libor Lochman, CER Deputy Executive Director.
 Railways welcome plans to electrify surface transport in new Energy Roadmap | [ ] | 315 Kb |