Rhine-Alpine News

01.02.2022

Action plan to make transport in the Alpine region more climate-friendly

Source: Pixabay

Source: Pixabay

Alpine countries are particularly affected by climate change and the associated consequences such as heat waves, more intense precipitation or floods. It is therefore important for them to strengthen climate protection. This includes moving away from fossil fuels and promoting decarbonization. Since international transit axes lead through the Alpine region, this also applies in particular to traffic. Switzerland takes the initiative to develop a transport and mobility strategy for a climate-neutral and sustainable Alpine region together with the other Alpine countries and to strengthen the shift from road to rail. The environment and transport ministers of the Alpine states Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia and Monaco, as well as the European Commission have agreed in their video conference on 14 January 2022 to draw up an action plan to make freight, passenger and tourist transport more climate-friendly. The joint action plan shall point out concrete goals and implementation projects. It is intended that the action plan will be adopted at the next ministerial conference, which will take place in Brig in the autumn. See full press release (in German) here: https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-86781.html

The future of transport in the context of the Recovery Plan

Six pillars of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Source: ec.europa.eu

Six pillars of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Source: ec.europa.eu

The study for the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) provides an overview of the EU policy priorities in the field of transport and the Recovery Plan’s funding opportunities for the transport sector. Key findings of the study summarize that all of the 29 EU priorities in the field of transport fall under the scope of the RRF – Recovery and Resilience Facility. The RRF is the centerpiece of the EU’s Recovery Plan responding to the COVID19 crisis, with an allocated sum of €723.8 billion (current prices, 2021) in loans and grants. The requirements set in the RRF Regulation regarding the timeline for the implementation and disbursement process may favour the funding of shorter, already mature and low-risk (as opposed to innovative) transport measures, the study concludes. See executive summary here: https://research4committees.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PE-699.613-ATAG.pdf and the full study here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2021/699612/IPOL_STU(2021)699612_EN.pdf

World’s largest sea lock in IJmuiden officially in use

Source: Rijkswaterstaat

Source: Rijkswaterstaat

The King of the Netherlands Willem Alexander officially inaugurated the sea lock IJmuiden on Wednesday 26 January 2022. With the lock now in full operation, maritime access to the TEN-T network at Amsterdam will be greatly improved, with an estimated growth in throughput from the current limit of 95 million tonnes to 125 million tonnes per year. Larger vessels will be able to enter the North Sea Canal Area and reach the Port of Amsterdam. The European hinterland connections will remain easily accessible for the next one hundred years. The improved accessibility of the North Sea Canal area via the sea lock contributes to important changes in the ports, such as energy transition and the transition to a circular economy. See official press release (in Dutch) here: https://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/nieuws/archief/2022/01/koning-opent-zeesluis-ijmuiden

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