Page 40 - European Energy Innovation - Autumn 2016 publication
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40  Autumn 2016 European Energy Innovation

    E-MOBILITY

The Platform for Electro-mobility

By Thomas Willson (pictured)                 local air quality, noise pollution and     Platform for Electro-mobility counts
                                             facilitating the integration of renewable  twenty-three members, sharing a vision
The European Union (EU)                      energy sources in the EU’s energy          for a sustainable, multimodal transport
            stands at the cross-roads of     system, present a compelling case          system in which people and goods are
            transport policy and emissions.  to strengthen our support for the          primarily moved across land in Europe
            At present, transport remains    technology.                                using sustainable electricity.
the only sector bucking the trend on
emission reductions, accounting for          The “Platform for Electro-mobility” was    In April 2016, the Platform for electro-
34% of all emissions from non-emission       created as a means to support such a       mobility was officially launched, holding
trading system (ETS) sectors. Electro-       reality, bringing together likeminded      an event to mark the publication of its
mobility offers an unparalleled solution     stakeholders across industries and         first recommendations paper, which
to address such difficulties, presenting     transport modes, representing              outlines needed actions for the EU to
the opportunity to reduce oil imports,       producers, infrastructure managers,        become a leader in e-mobility’. The
improve efficiency and reduce carbon         operators and users of transport,          launch event featured Henrik Hololei,
emissions, by replacing fossil mobility      cities and civil society. At present, the  Director-General at DG MOVE, and
within cities and across long distances.                                                Panellists from DG CLIMA, Council
In addition, benefits in improving                                                      Presidency of the Netherlands,
                                                                                        Alstom, Renault-Nissan and the City
                                                                                        of Manchester, who all underlined the
                                                                                        need for electrification of the transport
                                                                                        sector to play a key role in achieving the
                                                                                        goals of the EU’s Energy Union Strategy.

                                                                                        It is in this context that the Platform
                                                                                        for Electro-mobility approaches the
                                                                                        EU’s Energy Union strategy, which
                                                                                        aims to ensure ‘secure, affordable and
                                                                                        climate-friendly energy’ through five
                                                                                        reinforcing ‘pillars’: supply security, a
                                                                                        fully integrated internal energy market,
                                                                                        energy efficiency, climate action and
                                                                                        research and innovation. A key priority
                                                                                        of the Junker Commission, the Energy
                                                                                        Union made clear that electrification
                                                                                        of transport is crucial to address oil
                                                                                        dependency and decarbonisation of
                                                                                        the sector, urging a quickening of pace
                                                                                        in the uptake of electro-mobility.

                                                                                        The Platform for Electro-mobility
                                                                                        welcomes the strategy and calls for
                                                                                        more work to be done to embed
                                                                                        electro-mobility within the Energy
                                                                                        Union. It is the view of the Platform
                                                                                        that electro-mobility is able to support

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