News 2006

Compromise on EU car emission standards

13 December 2006

The European Parliament has voted on new vehicle emissions standards (Euro 5 /6) in a compromise deal with ministers that allows makers of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) an extra three years to comply.

Jos Dings, director of the European Federation for Transport & Environment, T&E, commented:

"The European Parliament has thrown away the opportunity to fix many of Europe's severe urban air quality problems using technologies that are already available. Instead, Europeans will have to wait until 2015 to buy a diesel car as clean as those already on sale in America."

"With growing awareness in Europe of the environmental and safety dangers of SUVs, the Parliament's decision to give these vehicles the same three-year exemptions as ambulances is a gift to SUV makers, and a kick in the teeth for the rest of society. But the growing anti urban-SUV movement could yet get the last laugh as cities across Europe are increasingly resorting to bans on SUVs and other heavily-polluting vehicles. Such measures are bound to increase as a direct result of this decision."

Web link: T&E Press release 13 December 2006.

Green groups call for ships to reduce air pollutant emissions
13 November 2006

During international negotiations this week in Oslo, Norway, environmental groups are pressing for ships to abandon dirty bunker fuels and cut engine emissions by 70-90% using current pollution controls.

According to a press release from the environmental groups, results from the weeklong session (13-17/11) could mark a turning point in reducing toxic emissions from ocean-going ships, which are steadily escalating due to increasing global trade and poor pollution standards. Fuel and engine emissions standards developed this week are expected to be adopted and finalized by July 2007 for implementation beginning in 2010 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Several shipping nations support improved standards, but others beholden to shipping and oil interests could hamper reform of the shipping fleet. Ships carry 90% of consumer goods to market and the volume of trade is expected to triple in the next two decades.

Shipping emissions contribute to substantial human health and environmental problems. People living near ports experience higher levels of cancer, heart attacks, asthma, respiratory illness and other cardiopulmonary problems – as well as premature death. Shipping emissions also contribute to acid rain, eutrophication, grond-level ozone, and climate change.

By 2020, shipping emissions are projected to exceed land-based emissions in Europe and parts of the U.S. Ships are estimated to generate almost 30 per cent of the world’s smog-forming nitrogen oxides emissions and nearly ten per cent of sulphur dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. 

A delegation of international, European Union and U.S. organizations, formally represented at the IMO by Friends of the Earth International, are pressuring the shipping industry to immediately switch to cleaner fuels and put air pollution controls on both new and existing ship engines that will drastically reduce smog-forming emissions and soot from diesel ship exhaust. The coalition includes: Clean Air Task Force (U.S.), Friends of the Earth – Bluewater Network (U.S.), Swedish Secretariat on Acid Rain (Sweden), North Sea Foundation (Netherlands), and European Federation for Transport and Environment (Belgium).

Based on current technology and cleaner fuel supplies, environmentalists are urging the IMO to require:

• Reductions of 40 to 50 per cent in smog-forming nitrogen oxides and sulphate-forming sulphur oxides by 2010.
• Reductions of 70 to 90 per cent in smog-forming nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides by 2015.
• Reduced sulphur content in marine fuels to 1.0 per cent or less at sea by 2010; and switching to marine distillate fuel of maximum 0.5 per cent by 2015.
• Reduced sulphur content in marine fuels in Sulphur Emissions Control Areas to 0.5 per cent or less.
• Prohibition on-board incineration in coastal waters.

The economics of climate change
30 October 2006

The most comprehensive review ever carried out on the economics of climate change was published on 30 October. The Stern review estimates that US$9 trillion would be the global economic cost of doing nothing.

The review has been carried out by a team of economists led by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economic Service and former World Bank Chief Economist.

According to the report, the worst impacts of climate change could be avoided at a cost of 1% of global GDP per year by 2050 with action now. "Delaying action, even by a decade or two, will take us into dangerous territory," it concludes. On the other hand, if greenhouse gas emissions continue increasing at their present rate, the cost could be 5-20% of GDP per year.

The report advocates stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations at 450-550 parts per million (ppm). Anything higher would substantially increase the risks of very harmful impacts, while only marginally reducing the costs of emission cuts, it concludes.

The Stern Review can be downloaded at: www.sternreview.org.uk


Minsters agree on air quality
23 October 2006

On 23 October, EU environment ministers reached agreement on a common position to the proposed new directive on air quality. After formal adoption of the text, it will be sent to the European Parliament for a second reading.

The ministers confirmed essentially the so-called general approach reached by the Council on 27 June 2006. Among the key elements included are:

- A non-binding target value for PM2.5 in 2010 to be replaced by a binding limit value in 2015 (25µg/m3 for both target value and limit value);

- The possibility1 for member states to postpone attainment of the limit values for PM10 until three years after entry into force of the directive (these limit values are according to current legislation legally binding as from 2005);

- The possibility1 for member states to postpone the deadlines for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and benzene by a maximum of five years (until 1 January 2015);

- The principle that limit values should apply everywhere, but in certain locations compliance with limit values should not be assessed.

Consequently, the ministers did not accept the Parliament's proposal for longer time extensions (up to 2014), or for weakening the daily limit value for PM10. Nor did they agree to the Parliament's proposals to strengthen some of the PM limit values (i.e. an annual PM2.5 limit value of 20 µg/m3 as from 2015, and an annual PM10 limit value of 33 µg/m3 as from 2010).

1 Where member states can demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable measures to implement the legislation but still need more time to comply with air quality standards in certain places, they can apply for a time-limited extension to the compliance deadline in the affected zones.


Health protection under pressure
26 September 2006
Proposals by the European Parliament to water down key aspects of proposed new EU air quality legislation have angered both the European Commission and environmentalists. The Parliament voted on 26 September to allow member states to postpone compliance with existing limit values on air pollutants until 2014. Moreover, it wants to increase the maximum number of days that the daily PM10 limit value can be exceeded in a year, from 35 to 55 days. Paradoxically, it also voted in favour of tightened limit values for particles - supporting a lowering of the annual limit for PM10 from 40 to 33 µg/m3, and for PM2.5 from 25 to 20 µg/m3. The result was characterized by the Greens in the Parliament as "a scandal", and by the European Environmental Bureau as "a bad deal for health". See press-releases with their comments at:

Web link: EEB pressrelease
Web link: EEB pressrelease

Comments from the European Commission can be found at:
Web link: EU Commision pressrelease

The Parliament itself said the outcome reflected “more ambitious targets but greater flexibility”. A press-release from the European Parliament is available at:

Web link: EU Parliament pressrelease


Air quality agreement in Council
27 june 2006
At the Environment Council on 27 June, EU environment ministers a provisional agreement on the draft new directive on air quality. The agreement implies slightly weaker standards, as compared to the Commission's proposal, but is still stronger than the position of the Parliament's Environment Committee from last week. Regarding PM2.5 the ministers wants to delay the introduction of the new limit value (of 25 micrograms per cubic metre) by five years, from 2010 to 2015. On PM10 there should be no changes to existing limit value figures, but by postponing the introduction from 2005 to 2007, and on top of that allowing for up to three year of extensions for member states, the ministers' position is very similar to the original proposal by the Commission. There was wide, but not unanimous, acceptance by ministers to this compromise package. The Netherlands, for example, opposed it as being to strong and wanted to link compliance with the standards to the introduction of EU-wide measures on emission control. Sweden, on the other hand, opposed the deal for being too weak on air quality protection.

Web link: Council pressrelease
Web link: EEB comment


Vote to weaken EU air quality standards
21 June 2006
The European Parliament’s Environment Committee on 21 June voted in favour of allowing member states to postpone, for up to ten years after the entry into force of the new directive, the implementation of EU limit values for particles (PM10), and to provide similarly generous exemptions also for some other air pollutants, such as fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Moreover, it wants to increase the maximum number of days that the daily PM10 limit value can be exceeded in a year, from 35 to 55 days.
Paradoxically, it also voted in favour of tightened limit values for particles – supporting a lowering of the annual limit for PM10 from 40 to 30 µg/m3, and for PM2.5 from 25 to 20 µg/m3. The result was characterized by the Greens in the Parliament as “a smokescreen”, and by the European Environmental Bureau as “a breath of foul air”.

Web link: Pressrelease and comment from The Greens
Web link: Pressrelease and comment From European Environmental Bureau
Web link: Pressrelease from the European Parliament


Air quality standards threatened
15 June 2006
Environmental organisations* urge MEPs to prevent a roll-back in EU air quality legislation. On 21 June the EP Environment Committee will vote on the Directive on Air Quality and Cleaner Air in Europe (the Krahmer report) - the first legally binding proposal linked to the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution. This proposal is a revision, and so relates to standards which are already in force. The environmental groups say they are alarmed that the Committee might support a position that would actually weaken existing levels of health protection.

The environmental groups say that they most strongly oppose amendments and compromise amendments which would delete or weaken the existing daily limit values for coarse particles (PM10), increase the amount of allowed exceedance days or introduce excessive derogations of ten years. They consequently urge MEPs to prevent this roll-back, not to accept misleading compromises which would weaken existing law and to vote for health-protecting standards for fine particles (PM2.5) equivalent to the latest air quality guidelines of the World Health Organisation, as required by the EU’s Sixth Environment Action Programme.

* The letter to MEPs was sent 14 June 2006, and signed by: CEE Bankwatch Network, Climate Action Network Europe, the European Environmental Bureau, the European Federation for Transport & Environment, the European Public Health Alliance - Environment Network, Friends of the Earth Europe, and Greenpeace.

Download the Letter(pdf)


Nitrogen deposition threaten biodiversity hotspots

18 May 2006

A group of scientists has recently analysed the threat of increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition to plant biodiversity at the global scale. Results suggest that biodiversity hotspots around the world are currently receiving, or are predicted to receive, rates of nitrogen deposition equivalent to those that have caused impacts in Europe. The sensitivity of many of these ecosystems to nitrogen impact is unknown and studies are urgently required to determine the risk to plant biodiversity.

Tackling climate change delivers better air quality
11 May 2006
Tackling climate change will improve Europe's air quality, cut premature deaths and could save 12 billion euro annually in air pollution control costs by 2030, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency, EEA.

  Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by burning smaller amounts of fossil fuels, will mean less air pollution. As a result the cost of tackling air pollution will be cut significantly. Not only will tougher climate change policies help clean up Europe's air quality, they will also reduce the annual number of premature deaths caused by air pollution. The report acknowledges however that specific air pollution policy will still be needed.

Web link: EEA Briefing 2/2006

Global Warming Threatens Planet’s Biodiversity
11 May 2006
Global warming represents one of the most important threats to our planet’s biodiversity, even worse than deforestation, according to a new study.
   The authors focused specifically at the effect that climate change would have on 25 global “biodiversity hotspots”, areas containing a large number of the world’s species, and yet having suffered considerable habitat loss.
   The results of the study predict that many unique habitats will be lost as climate change brings rapid changes to the environment. In the worst case scenario temperatures rises could potentially eliminate 56,000 plant and 3,700 endemic vertebrate species in the 25 hotspot regions.

  Areas particularly vulnerable to climate change include the Cape Floristic region of South Africa, Caribbean regions, Indo-Burma, the Mediterranean Basin, Southwest Australia, and the tropical Andes.

Web link: Science for Environment Policy, 11 May 2006.

European Cities Pledge to Slash emissions
9 May 2006
An association of European cities linked in partnership with indigenous rainforest peoples has resolved to reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by 10 percentage points every five years as a long term strategy. By this means, they intend to cut 1990 levels of per capita greenhouse gas emissions in half by the year 2030.
   To attain the long term climate stabilization goal agreed by the cities individuals would have to cut their emissions to the level of 2.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per person per year.
   The Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous Rainforest Peoples is Europe's largest city network dedicated to climate protection, with more than 1,300 member municipalities located in 17 European countries. Close to 50 million European citizens live in member cities, which include Barcelona, Berlin, Luxembourg, Munich, The Hague, Venice, Vienna and Zurich.

Web links:
- Environment News Service, 9 May 2006.
– The Climate Alliance

Polar bears classified as threathened
2 May 2006

The World Conservation Union, or IUCN, has added 530 species to its "Red List" of endangered species since the last version released two years ago.
   Without a reversal of global warming trends, it predicts polar bear populations would drop more than 30 per cent in the next 45 years as melted ice caps deprive the animals of their habitat. The impact of climate change is increasingly felt in polar regions, where summer sea ice is expected to decrease by 50-100 per cent over the next 50-100 years. Previously listed by IUCN as a conservation dependent species, the polar bear moves into the threatened categories and has been classified as Vulnerable.
   IUCN said countries worldwide needed to boost efforts to preserve biodiversity through reduced emissions, tighter fishing and hunting controls, and other measures.

Web link: IUCN press release

Global greenhouse gas concentrations rose in 2005
1 May 2006
Levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere have increased over the past year relative to a 1990 benchmark, according to the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index issed today by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
   During 2005, global carbon dioxide increased from an average of 376.8 parts per million (ppm) to 378.9 ppm, an increase of 2.1 ppm. The pre-industrial CO2 level was approximately 278 ppm. Overall, NOAA said, the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) shows a continuing, steady rise in the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, although the constant or declining growth rates of methane and CFCs have slightly slowed the overall growth rate of the index.

  While the index has increased in every year since NOAA's global measurements began in 1979, the increase during 2005 was 1.25 per cent, which is relatively low, the agency said.

Web links:
- Environment News Service, 1 May 2006
- NOAA press release

Car industry failing on climate pledge

19 April 2006

Carmakers are defaulting on their pledge to tackle climate change, new figures show, according to figures presented by the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E). Last year, car industry efforts to improve fuel efficiency achieved a third of the rate needed to meet a commitment they made to the EU in 1998.

  European manufacturers sold cars that produce on average 160 grams of CO2 per kilometre last year, down only 1 per cent on the previous year, according to sales figures analysed by T&E. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) promised the European Commission in 1998 to reach average emissions of 140 grams of CO2 per kilometre for new cars by 2008.

  Further improvements in efficiency are not expensive and can be made with widely-available existing technology, asys T&E. A report for the European Commission last year showed that the cost of meeting the EU’s own target for new cars of 120 grams of CO2 per kilometre would be on average € 577 per car.

  Meeting the EU target would result in twenty-five per cent lower fuel bills. At today’s prices that would mean a € 1000 saving for the average car over three years.

Web link: European Federation for Transport and Environment

Transport growth - an environmental dilemma
28 March 2006

Polluting emissions from transport continue to impact on health and undermine progress towards Kyoto targets, says a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA).
  "Transport and environment 2005: Facing a Dilemma", shows that more goods and passengers are being transported farther and more frequently across Europe. While greenhouse gas emissions from other sectors decreased, those from transport increased in the EEA countries by more than 22 % between 1990 and 2003.
   Transport is not the only reason for poor air quality. However by exposing people to emissions at street level it can have a serious impact on the health of the general public. Moreover, traffic is a significant source of emissions of fine and ultra-fine particles in cities and there is growing evidence that these particles have serious effects on health.
   The report foresees that many European cities will continue to fail air quality limits. The impacts on health are severe: estimates suggest that as many as 370, 000 people die prematurely every year in Europe due to air pollution.

Web link: European Environment Agency

Sea rise could be 'catastrophic'

24 March 2006
A study in the journal Science suggests a threshold triggering a rise in sea level of several metres could be reached before the end of the century. Greenland could be as warm by 2100 as it was 130,000 years ago, when melting ice raised sea levels by 3-4 metres.

Web links:
- BBC News
- Abstract in Science, 24 March 2006.

Court shoots down attempt to circumvent Clean Air Act
20 March 2006
A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Bush administration from implementing a regulation that would have eased clean air requirements for some 17,000 industrial facilities, including coal-fired power plants and oil refineries. The court handed down a stinging rebuke of the regulation, which it said is "contrary to the plain language" of the Clean Air Act.

Web link: Environment News Service

Reducing fine particulate air pollution cuts mortality risk

16 March 2006
Investigators who extended the Harvard Six Cities fine particulate air pollution study by eight years found that reduced levels of tiny particle pollution during this period lowered mortality risk for participants. The largest drops in adjusted mortality rates were in cities with the greatest reduction in fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5).

  The results appear in the second issue for March 2006 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.

Web links:
- Reducing fine particulate air pollution cuts mortality risk

- American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Public consultation on a European energy policy

8 March 2006

The basis for a European Energy Policy has been set out by the European Commission in a new green paper, which invites comments on six specific priority areas, containing over 20 concrete suggestions for possible new action.
   The Green Paper outlines how a European Energy Policy could meet the three core objectives of energy policy: sustainable development, competitiveness, and security of supply.
   In its fourth Action area, the Commission suggests a series of measures to address the challenges of global warming. In particular, it puts forward possible contents for an action plan on energy efficiency to be adopted by the Commission later this year. In addition, it proposes that the EU prepares a new road map for renewable energy sources in the EU, with possible targets to 2020 and beyond.
   On the basis of replies from a public consultation, as well as the conclusions of the European Council and Parliament, the Commission will propose a series of concrete measures.

Web links:
- Press release from the European Commission.
- “Europe clinging to dinosaur energy policy”. Press release from Friends of the Earth Europe.

Stormy winters
2 March 2006

Following a European winter of extreme cold and heavy snow, a WWF report says that there’s more risk of severe storms and extreme weather in future winters as a result of climate change unless CO2 emissions are reduced dramatically.

Web link: WWF press release 2 March 2006.

New WHO air quality guidelines published
27 February 2006
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published new air quality guidelines. The guidelines from WHO are the international reference work on the adverse effects of exposure to different air pollutants on human health and provide a scientific basis for protecting human health from effects of air pollution.

  The guidelines for PM2.5 are 10µg/m3 for the annual average and 25 µg/m3 for the daily (24 hour) average.

  For PM10 they are 20 µg/m3 annual average and 50 µg/m3 daily average.

Web link: WHO air quality guidelines global update 2005 (pdf, 477 kB)

New study: Coal-fired power stations top damage league
22 February 2006

Large coal-fired power stations in Spain, Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria are topping the list of the most health-damaging point sources of emissions in Europe. These high-emission plants are each estimated to be responsible for the loss of between 10,000 and 20,000 life years, or roughly 1000 to 2000 premature deaths, every year.

   The figures come from a new study, "Health impacts of emissions from large point sources", prepared for the Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain by Mike Holland at EMRC. It combines the health impact assessment methodology used by the EU’s Clean Air For Europe (CAFE) programme with an emissions database for European large point sources, to assess health damage on a plant-by-plant basis.

Web links:

- Press release 22 February 2006 (pdf, 60 kB)

- Full report (pdf, 380 kB)

Climate change beyond 2100
16 February 2006
Research released by the British Environment Agency shows that the decisions of this generation will leave a legacy of increasing climate change over the next millennium unless there is a major reduction in emissions.
   Whilst most studies stop at year 2100 with temperatures and sea level rising this study by Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has explored where they are heading into the next millennium. The report says that by the year 3000:

• Global and regional warming could more than quadruple after 2100: Temperatures could rise from1.5°C if emissions are minimised to as much as 15°C if we continue burning fossil fuels - more than four times the predictions for the year 2100.
• Sea levels will still be rising at the end of this millennium and could reach 11.4m by year 3000. This figure compares with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global average sea level change of 0.16 to 0.69m by the 2080s.
• Abrupt climate change events could occur: Business-as-usual emissions could lead to the collapse of currents in the Atlantic, causing North Atlantic sea temperatures to fall by 3°C. If emissions continue, Arctic sea ice could completely disappear all year round, causing North Atlantic seas, previously cooled to heat up to 8°C accompanied by UK land temperature increases of up to 5°C within 20 years.

The only scenario that avoids dangerous climate change over the long term is the minimum emissions scenario, which allows for about one quarter of known fossil fuels to be used (about 1,000 GtC out of 4-5,000 GtC). This scenario allows for a small increase in global emissions by 2025 with a steady linear phase out by 2200.

Web link: Environment Agency

Power plants linked to 700 premature deaths
15 February 2006
About 700 premature deaths, 30,000 asthma attacks and 400 pediatric emergency room visits in the US each year are linked to current pollution from six Maryland power plants, according to a new study by the Maryland Nurses Association (MNA).

Web link: Environment News Service

An EU Strategy for Biofuels
8 February 2006
The European Commission today adopted an EU strategy for biofuels, with a range of potential measures to boost production of fuels from agricultural raw materials.

  The strategy, which builds on the biomass action plan adopted in December 2005, sets out three main aims: to promote biofuels in both the EU and developing countries; to prepare for large-scale use of biofuels by improving their cost-competitiveness and increasing research into ‘second generation’ fuels; to support developing countries where biofuel production could stimulate sustainable economic growth.
   The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is warning against a forced march promoting biofuels without certainty that all biofuel feedstock production will not harm the environment, in the EU or in developing countries.

Web links:
- An EU Strategy for Biofuels (European Commission)
- EEB press release 8 February 2006

European wind power: over 6 GW installed in 2005
4 February 2006
The cumulative wind power capacity within the EU increased by 18 per cent to 40.5 GW (gigawatt) at the end of 2005. The installed capacity will, in an average wind year, produce some 83 TWh of electricity, equal to 2.8 per cent of EU electricity consumption in 2004.
   The top five European wind energy markets in 2005 were Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK. In cumulative installed capacity, leading countries are Germany 18.4 GW; Spain 10.0; Denmark 3.1, Italy 1.7, UK 1.4, Netherlands 1.2 and Portugal 1.0 GW.

Web link: European Wind Energy Association

NGO positions regarding the Thematic Strategy on Air pollution
31 January 2006

Three environmental NGO-networks in Europe have made a joint position paper regarding the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and the Air quality directive proposal.
   One main point of criticism is the fact that the costs have been overestimated and the emission reduction potential underestimated.

  Despite these shortcomings, however, the economically quantifiable health gains of the Thematic Strategy have been estimated to range from 42 to 135 billion euro in the year 2020, i.e. up to 20 times higher than the (over)estimated costs.

Further information:
- Position paper on the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution (pdf, 55 kB)
- Position paper on the proposed directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (pdf, 123 kB)

Renewables vs. nuclear: surveys offer contrasting picture
25 January 2006
Close to 80 per centof EU citizens back renewable energies as their preferred alternative to high-priced oil and gas imports, according to a public opinion survey (Eurobarometer). Nuclear power scores poorly with 12 per cent.

Web link: EurActive.com

2005 Was the Warmest Year in a Century

24 January 2006

The year 2005 may have been the warmest year in a century, according to a NASA, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The five warmest years over the last century occurred in the last eight years. The warmest was 2005, then 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Over the past 30 years, the Earth has warmed by 0.6°C. Over the past 100 years, it has warmed by 0.8° C.
   Current warmth seems to be occurring nearly everywhere at the same time and is largest at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the last 50 years, the largest annual and seasonal warmings have occurred in Alaska, Siberia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Most ocean areas have warmed.

Web link: NASA

Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment adopted

13 January 2006

The European Commission’s thematic strategy to improve the urban environment does not include any binding commitments for large cities to develop and implement environmental management and clean transport programmes.

  In draft proposals circulated two years ago the commission said it wanted all cities with a population over 100,000 to be required to draw up such plans.
   Instead a voluntary approach is proposed, where it is up to each city to decide whether to take action to improve their environmental performance. The strategy sets out a
range of initiatives to facilitate them, including technical guidance, best practice exchange, financial support and training.

Web link: EU Commission urban environment pages

Congestion charging starts in Stockholm
3 January 2006

A test run costing 3.8 billion crowns ($485.2 million) starts on Tuesday and will last until July. The road pricing scheme is the biggest since the London congestion charge launch in 2003. Stockholmers will vote in September 2006 on whether to make it permanent.
   Cameras on gantries have sprung up to record the licence numbers of vehicles, whose owners have to pay when they enter and leave the zone. The charge will be a maximum 60 crowns ($7.50) a day, slightly less than London, the only other European capital with similar fees, which charges eight pounds ($14) a day.
   The Swedish charge aims to cut traffic on the most heavily congested roads by 10-15 per cent. In London, which introduced charges in 2001, the toll has cut traffic volume by 18 per cent.

Web links:
- City of Stockholm
- Planet Ark (Reuters) 4 January 2006

Back to top