The government mainly invests in dirty forms of transport such as cars and trucks. 60% of all public investment, over 11 billion euros, goes to roads, only 21% goes to rail. Transport will be responsible for 2019 percent of CO21 emissions in 2. This is evident from the research report Onderweg naar schoon? SEO-Amsterdam commissioned by Environmental DefenseIs made.

The government invests 11,3 billion euros annually in traffic and transport. More than half of this, 6,8 billion euros (60%), goes to expanding and maintaining roads, viaducts and bridges. Spending on the metro, bus, tram and rail is approximately 3 billion euros, of which 2,3 billion goes to the train.

Most of the expenditure, 8,4 billion goes to passenger transport and 2,3 billion to freight transport. The highest incomes benefit most from these investments because they travel much more by car than people with lower incomes and travel twice as many kilometers. People with a low income make more use of the bus, tram and metro. The plane and the car are the forms of passenger transport with the most CO2 emissions.

Addiction to asphalt

Bram van Liere, campaigner Climate Justice Traffic:

“The government must invest completely differently to achieve the Paris climate goals. Most of the money goes to the dirtiest forms of transport. We need to invest in clean modes of transport, especially for people in remote areas with the least accessibility. In the first place, this means investing in clean transport such as buses, trams, metros, bicycles and in rural areas in electric shared cars. We have to get rid of the fossil addiction to asphalt. ”

For the first time

It is the first time that research has been conducted into the scale of investments by the government in traffic and transport by central government, provinces, urban regions, municipalities and water boards. We examined which part goes to clean or dirty forms of transport. Government expenditure on maintenance has also been included. The figures refer to 2017-2018, but expenditure on traffic flows grows roughly by the same percentage every year. Demand for mobility is expected to continue to rise. Aviation will increase most in Europe, followed by freight transport.

Operation Climate

On Thursday 24 October, Milieudefensie will start Operation Climate, in which hundreds of volunteers will take to the streets to talk to citizens about how climate policy can be fairer. What solutions and challenges are there? One of the topics of discussion is whether the government should invest more money in public transport and bicycle than in the car. People want to remain accessible, but there is also the need to reduce CO2 emissions from dirty forms of transport.

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