European Cities Taking the Lead in the Promotion of Clean Vehicles and Fuels, and Mobility Services

By 2020, one out of five vehicles circulating in European cities will no longer rely on fossil fuels. During their meeting of the 11th of March in Brussels, members of the Policy Advisory Committee of the CIVITAS Initiative agreed that the challenge as set out by the European Commissions Green Paper on energy supply (1) can be met.

The nine European cities forming the PAC (Bristol, Gdynia, Genoa, Göteborg, Nantes, Prague, Rome, Rotterdam, Stockholm) are at the forefront of clean mobility strategies, and CIVITAS is providing them with an effective framework to demonstrate that strong political will can achieve targets, which until recently were deemed unrealistic.
However, the current European national markets are still too protected and fragmented, states Councillor Helen Holland from Bristol. Clean fuels/technologies can only be successful if a sufficient critical mass is accrued. Local authorities therefore expect legislative support from the European Commission to abate the current market fragmentation.
According to Camille Durand from Nantes, common definitions and standards for clean vehicles must be swiftly adopted across the European Union, so that vehicle manufacturers recognise their immediate interest in boosting the volume and quality of clean vehicles and fuels production. To show the way, the CIVITAS cities will work toward the establishment of common rules for the organisation of joint purchases of clean buses. Says Vice-Mayor Viviann Gunnarsson, from Stockholm: our recent experience shows that joint procurements can make the difference in attracting the industry, and the CIVITAS Forum, with more than 100 cities involved, provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to push this process forward.
The CIVITAS cities regard the swift uptake of clean vehicles and fuels as a major component of their integrated urban policies, which aim at the substitution of individual transport modes with new and more efficient forms of collective transport.
Member States have a fundamental role to play in facilitating the process, claims Councillor Arcangelo Merella, from Genoa: vehicle and fuel taxation, for instance, is mostly decided on at the national level, and special regimes for clean vehicles should be systematically introduced.
Following the success of the first CIVITAS Forum (Graz, October 2003), the CIVITAS cities will meet again in Rotterdam, in the third week of November, to compare strategies and achievements, to welcome new CIVITAS Forum members and to devise further concrete opportunities for making clean mobility happen. The second CIVITAS Forum, which main theme will be Mobility Culture, will also allow for a direct interaction between the political representatives of the CIVITAS cities and the European Ministers of Transport, who will gather in Rotterdam under the auspices of the Dutch Presidency of the EU.
The CIVITAS initiative is supported by the European Commission, DG Energy and Transport. It features a small group of highly ambitious European cities that have committed to test, implement and evaluate innovative mobility strategies.
For more information, please refer to:,- The attached policy statement, issued on 11th of March by the Policy Advisory Committee,- The CIVITAS website: http://www.civitas-initiative.org,- The PAC contact point:
Mr Andrea Ricci,Tel [phone],E-mail: [e-mail]
The CIVITAS Initiative is supported by the Directorate General for Energy and Transport of the European Commission. The content of this press-release has not been adopted or approved by the European Commission and solely reflects the views of the CIVITAS Forum members.,1 COM (2000) 769 Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply