EU greenhouse gas emissions fell 2% in 2018, according to the European Environment Agency’s preliminary estimates. After four years of stagnation and increases, this is good news especially since 2018 was a year of robust economic growth across the continent. The bad news is that EU transport emissions – road transport plus domestic shipping and aviation – increased by half a percent. That’s the fifth year-on-year increase since 2012. What can we learn from these data and what lessons does it hold for Ursula von der Leyen and Frans Timmermans as they prepare to launch a bid to increase the EU’s climate ambition?
