Environment Council SRU: steering the transport sector in a new direction

23.11.2017 - The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) issued a special report promoting a quota for electric cars. At least 25 percent of all new cars and light commercial vehicles should be equipped with an electric drive by 2025. With regard to the additional electricity demand by the transport sector, an accelerated expansion of renewable energies is necessary according to the report. Moreover, during the new legislative period the end of the diesel privilege should be initiated. The report also makes proposals for the further development of route-dependent car and truck toll systems. The transport sector is currently responsible for about one-fifth of Germany's greenhouse gas emissions.
Environment Council SRU: steering the transport sector in a new direction

"In addition to the energy transition, a transformation of the transport sector is a central task for politics and society over the next 10 years," says Wolfgang Lucht, SRU member and Co-Chair of research domain Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "Climate, public health and urban quality of life will benefit from a transition from outdated to new forms of mobility. For this modernisation programme, our special report makes numerous suggestions on the basis of scientific analysis. With a significant reduction in climate-damaging emissions, the transport sector could eventually make its necessary contribution to climate and the environment protection". According to the German Advisory Council on the Environment, a combination of traffic avoidance, traffic relocation to rail and public transport, and improved vehicle efficiency is necessary for a mobility transition.

The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) has been advising the Federal Government on environmental issues for almost 45 years. The members of the council are Claudia Hornberg from the University of Bielefeld, Manfred Niekisch from Goethe University and Frankfurt Zoological Garden, Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin, Claudia Kemfert, Hertie School of Governance and the German Institute for Economic Research, Wolfgang Lucht from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Lamia Messari-Becker from the University of Siegen and Vera Susanne Rotter from Technische Universität Berlin.


Special report "Umsteuern erforderlich: Klimaschutz im Verkehrssektor" and SRU press release: https://www.umweltrat.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/02_Sondergutachten/2016_2020/2017_11_SG_Klimaschutz_im_Verkehrssektor.html

To the SRU-statement "Coal phase-out in three steps": https://www.pik-potsdam.de/aktuelles/nachrichten/umweltrat-kohleausstieg-in-drei-phasen