How to reconcile mobility and environment in Europe, European TV features, www.seetv-exchanges.com

Short overview of contents:

Cars are responsible for 15% of all our greenhouse gas emissions. The EU is pushing car manufacturers to produce cleaner cars. But environmentalists think this is not enough. And the car industry is resisting the move. How to reconcile mobility and environment in Europe? Car sharing in big cities is one of the possible solutions. Example in Brussels.

0 Christophe sits in front of his computer

This morning, Christophe, a 34 year-old living in Brussels, Belgium, needs a car. But he doesn't have one. So he goes on the internet to find something that suits him.

11 Christophe Havreaux, Carsharing user

I need a car to go shopping. As I am a carsharing subscriber I go to the Cambio website and I check if there's a car available soon that I could use.

29 Christophe walking to the Cambio station, getting in the car, driving

From Christophe's flat, the nearest Cambio station is only a few minutes' walk away. Cambio cars are parked all over Brussels, they are shared between a lot of users. They have to be taken and returned to the same spot. When he gets to the car he booked, Christophe presses his personal card against the windscreen. The doors open. Christophe never had a car, he uses public transport, rides his bike and takes advantage of car sharing twice a week.

57 Christophe Havreaux, carsharing user in French

The idea of driving around the city on short trips that aren't worth the effort with a car that pollutes the air seems completely absurd, to me. So I use it in a practical way when I have to move heavy things or get somewhere when there's no other way of doing it. It's sort of half way between looking after the environment and being practical as well.

1'22 driving Cambio/car pollution/Transport & Environment's office

Cambio started up in 2003 in Brussels, and it has a few thousand users. But this minority is growing as more and more people become aware that cars are one of the main causes of greenhouse gas emissions . In European countries, cars are everywhere, and traffic congestion is very common in the main cities. The NGO Transport and Environment tries to make drivers aware of the consequences of using their vehicles, which represent around 15%of all our emissions.

1'52 Jos Dings, director Transport and Environment in English

It's very important, not just to use the cars as sparsely as you can, but also to use the most fuel efficient cars that you find, because fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions are exactly the same. The less petrol or diesel you use, the better it is for the climate.

2'18 Press conference European commission 07.02.07

The European Commission wants to force car manufacturers into making less fuel-consuming cars. By 2012, new vehicles that appear on the European market will have to emit 120 grammes of CO2 per kilometre on average. At the moment, it is 160 grammes. Nevertheless environmentalists are unhappy : they wanted Brusselsto take tougher action, but the industry is resisting the move.

2'42 Car show in Brussels, 4 by 4, SUVs

Here is why : during car shows, it's obvious the bigger cars, the ones that emit a lot of greenhouse gas, attract the most attention. Four-wheel drives and SUVs are expensive but very trendy. Thanks to them, the manufacturers make a lot of money.

2'55 Peter Gemoets, Public relations of Belgian car federation FEBIAC

More and more people want to buy more comfortable and safer cars. More comfort and more safety, that implies more weight. Heavier cars consume more fuel. Therefore it's not easy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

3'12 close-up emission label of 4X4, more car show

Moreover not everyone is well informed about greenhouse gases . Till now it's has not been something people take into account when they buy a car. But environmentalists, like T&E (Transport and Environment) are adamant : we can't keep on driving as if nothing was happening.

3'27 Jos Dings, director Transport and Environment in English

It should be very clear that these monster cars, these 4 by 4 cars are not fit for the future, these are not the kind of cars that we need in Europeor in Americaor anywhere if we want a sustainable future

3'43 Sloveniakids stopping cars

There are different ways of helping people make the right choice. Here in Slovenia, school kids inform drivers. Other countries, like Germanyand Belgium, want to tax cars according to their CO2 emissions and not to the power of their motors. Tax incentives are offered for less polluting cars.

4'02 Carsharing in Brussels

Carsharing is also seen as a way to reduce the number of cars on the road. One car shared replaces 7 private ones. Carsharing stations are becoming more and more common in big European towns . In Brussels, Christophe Havreaux may still belong to a minority, but very soon he might be seen as one of the pioneers of a new kind of more climate-friendly mobility.

4'30