We focus on those sectors that cannot be directly electrified, where emissions continue to grow and our scientific expertise can support balanced decision making for ships, aircraft and heavy-duty vehicles. We are also engaging with air quality problems in Europe, which continue to be the top environmental health risk to Europeans, through scientific monitoring and analysis and policy follow-up.
The shipping industry is essential for global trade, but it is also an important source of carbon emissions. In 2022 it accounted for about 2% of global-energy related emissions. The emission reduction targets of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are now aligned with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, but further measures are needed to be on a trajectory consistent with the IMO’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario. We focus on action through IMO, where we now have consultative status, and in the EU.
Air pollution emissions in the EU have declined in the last two decades. Despite that improvement, air pollution remains the largest environmental health risk in Europe. Pollutants emitted by transport activities contribute to air pollution and put significant pressure on the environment and human health. Our focus so far has been air quality monitoring and urban freight.
Going forward we seek to broaden our work by also highlighting the social inequities of air pollution, as we know that low-income communities are disproportionately burdened by the health impacts from transport. We will also seek to leverage our global capacity and resources on global clean air science, monitoring and analysis to inform EU level strategic thinking of next steps on policy and evaluation of existing policy to encourage future ambition.
