ABSTRACT
Recent years have witnessed dramatic volatility in oil prices and growing concern about the consequences of carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The Energy, Transport and Environment Indicators published by Eurostat (2007), show that in 2005 the transport sector was responsible for about 31 per cent of total energy consumption in the European Union (EU
cent of total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. In the ten years between 1995 and 2005 there was a 21 per cent increase in energy consumption for transport, mainly driven by consumption for road transport, which represents the largest share (82 per cent) of total transport consumption. Since crude oil accounts for 96 per cent of total energy consumption in the road sector, the 17 per cent increase in GHG emissions in this sector in 1995-2005 from transport is fully explained. This ten-year trend shows that current European policies for sustainable energy are not adequate for this sector, which is highly dependent on fossil fuels, and that more effort is required on alternative energy sources.
