After the European Commission’s first consultation for several years on maximum permitted tyre noise ended recently, the European environmental transport lobby group T&E has called for an overall reduction of at least five decibels. It reports the EC is planning a new tyre noise regulation before the end of this year, reportedly to include both noise and rolling resistance, as a constituent of its planned regulation to impose a 130 g/km CO2 emissions limit for cars by 2012.
A paper on biofuels’ climate impact published online by Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, a group led by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen and including Keith Smith, Hon. Professor at Edinburgh University’s Institute of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, suggests that nitrous oxide release from biofuels can cause more global warming than the fossil fuel saved.
The Government appears to have hit a brick wall in trying to convince the public about road pricing, according to Edmund King, the director of the RAC Foundation, in a speech at the National Transport Conference in London today.. He suggests that a voluntary scheme with rewards for early adopters, including cuts in fuel tax, might be the way ahead.
The Environment Committee of the European Parliament adopted its report on ambient air quality on its second reading on 9th October. It called for more ambitious EU air quality targets than those proposed by the European Commission and Council of Ministers, but also urged greater flexibility in the legislation to enable Member States to adapt to them.
ECG, the Association of European Vehicle Logistics, has commissioned Friends of the Earth (Italy) to study ‘The External Costs of Logistics of Vehicles, Uniform European Values to Measure the Company’s Environmental Performance.’
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