Briefing

Rail and waterborne — best for low-carbon motorised transport

Briefing Published 24 Mar 2021 Last modified 09 Feb 2023

6 min read

Photo: © Benjamin Wagner on Unsplash

A new study commissioned by the EEA shows a clear hierarchy of passenger and freight transport modes, in terms of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rail and waterborne transport have the lowest emissions per kilometre and unit transported, while aviation and road transport emit significantly more. Alongside shifting to rail and waterborne transport, improving the GHG efficiency of all motorised forms of transport remains an important objective. Moreover, monitoring their GHG efficiency on a regular basis would support these efforts. While active modes, such as walking and cycling, are outside the scope of the study, they are an obvious choice for clean and sustainable mobility because their emissions can be assumed to be close to zero.

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	Title	Size	Modified	State
D3b - EEA GHG Efficiency Indicators	D3b - EEA GHG Efficiency Indicators	1.0 MB	24 Mar 2021, 04:09 PM	Published

Disclaimer

The country assessments are the sole responsibility of the EEA member and cooperating countries supported by the EEA through guidance, translation and editing.

For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/rail-and-waterborne-transport/rail-and-waterborne-best or scan the QR code.

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