Austria Issues Transport 'Graz Declaration'

The Austrian six-month presidency of the EU Council of Ministers drew up a declaration - the Graz Declaration - prior to an October 30 EU informal meeting of transport and environment ministers in Graz.

Ministers Elisabeth Kostinger (environment) and Norbert Hofer (transport) - shown in banner photo above - said: “We must guarantee people’s mobility on the one hand, while on the other hand finding and developing ways to make that happen without endangering our environment." 

The declaration, which has no legal force, was a subject for discussion at the October 30 EU ministerial meeting. It calls on member states and the European Commission to step up their efforts by implementing clean mobility measures to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens.  The Graz Declaration can be downloaded as a pdf (333kB) by clicking this link. It urges "rapid introduction of zero-emission vehicles and decarbonised fuel options" and discusses electro-mobility but is less explicit on ways of switching from oil to gas, or even to green hydrogen, in transport.

Although it has contains no direct references to gas/LNG in transport, it urges EU states and the commission to "intensify their collaboration within international processes aimed at low-carbon and environment-friendly mobility and transport, such as [with] the International Maritime Organisation"; the latter's new rules from January 2020 are accelerating the uptake of LNG as a bunker fuel.