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Indicator Assessment

Energy efficiency and energy consumption in the transport sector

Indicator Assessment
Prod-ID: IND-302-en
  Also known as: ENER 023
Published 19 Sep 2011 Last modified 11 May 2021
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In the EU-27 countries, energy efficiency in the transport sector increased by 15% between 1990 and 2008- at an annual average rate of 0.9% - due to increased efficiency particularly for passenger cars and airplanes. Over the same period, per capita energy consumption in transport in EU-27 countries increased by 26% - at an annual average rate of 1.3% - slower than GDP (2.1% annually). In 2008, the average per capita energy consumption in transport in EU-27 was 0.75 toe. In other EEA countries, the increase of per capita energy consumption in transport was either below the EU-27 average (e.g. Switzerland with 7% and Norway with 11%) or significantly above (e.g. Turkey with 36% and Iceland with 42%). Growth in passengers and freight traffic, together with an observed modal shift from public transport to road transport, contributed to increase the energy consumption in transport, offsetting the energy efficiency gains.

Energy efficiency progress in transport in the EU

Energy efficiency progress in transport in the EU

Note: The figure shows the energy efficiency progress in transport as ODEX index

Data source:

ODYSSEE database. Energy efficiency in transpor sector. The Odyssee database is available at http://www.odyssee-indicators.org/.  The access is restricted to project
partners or subscribers

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  • The energy efficiency of transport in the EU-27 improved by about 15% between 1990 and 2008 (0.9%/year), as measured according to the ODEX indicator. Greater progress was achieved in the energy efficiency of both cars and airplanes than in the rest of the sector (Figure 1).

% change in transport final energy consumption per person, 1990-2008

% change in transport final energy consumption per person, 1990-2008

Note: The figure shows the change in transport final energy consumption per person (1990-2008) in %

Data source:

EUROSTAT

    Reference of the table :  populat, Code of the dataserie : demo_pjan

For EU, the data sources are the following:

  • Energy consumption by transport modes (road, water, rail, air): Eurostat
  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : Calculated for each type of vehicle by type of fuel (gasoline and diesel) from the the stock of vehicles for EU-27 is calculated as the sum of EU countries; for EU 27, the unit consumption by fuel for each type of vehicle is calculated as equal to the weighted average of 15 countries for which data are available, of which 11 EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries; the weighting factor is the number of vehicle in each country.
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). The weighting factor is the number of cars in each country.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum of countries (all data by countries available)

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% change transport final energy consumption per person by period

% change transport final energy consumption per person by period

Note: The figure shows the %-change in transport final energy consumption per person (1990-2008)

Data source:

EUROSTAT

 

For EU, the data sources are the following:

  • Energy consumption by transport modes (road, water, rail, air): Eurostat
  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : Calculated for each type of vehicle by type of fuel (gasoline and diesel) from the the stock of vehicles for EU-27 is calculated as the sum of EU countries; for EU 27, the unit consumption by fuel for each type of vehicle is calculated as equal to the weighted average of 15 countries for which data are available, of which 11 EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries; the weighting factor is the number of vehicle in each country.
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). The weighting factor is the number of cars in each country.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum of countries (all data by countries available)

 

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  • From 1990 to 2008 per capita transport energy consumption increased in almost all countries (Figure 2): it increased on average by 26% in the EU-27, at an annual average growth rate of 1.3%. The progression was particularly rapid (around or above 4%/year) in three new EU member countries (Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic) and in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Austria.
  • Since 2000, there has been a net slowdown in the consumption growth in most EU-15 countries and at the EU-27 as a whole (Figure 3); this trend was especially marked in Germany, France and Italy, with a consumption lower in 2008 than in 1999. Since the year 2000, the consumption per capita increased at an annual average rate of only 0.7% per year in the EU-27. The trend however was very different in most new member countries, Iceland and Turkey, where the annual average growth rate of the energy consumption per capita almost reached 5% per year (average for EU-12), 4.2% for Iceland and 2.9%/year for Turkey.
  • Year 2008 was marked by very high oil price in the first half of the year and the beginning of the economic crisis ( the GDP  only increased by 0.7%, which is the lowest growth rate since 1993, year of recession). As a result of these to effects, the per capita energy consumption of the transport sector decreased by 1.1% on average in the EU-27 and even by 2% in EU-15 countries; this trend was very different in new EU member countries where the consumption continued its rapid progression (+ 5.2%).
  • In 2008, the energy consumption decreased by 6.8 Mtoe, as result of the combined effect of a reduction in passenger and goods traffic (respectively -0.2% and -2%), of energy savings (mainly for goods) and of a reduction in the share of cars in passenger transport.

Energy consumption by transport mode in the EU-27

Energy consumption by transport mode in the EU-27

Note: The figure shows the share of energy consumption by mode in total transport in EU-27

Data source:

ODYSSEE database (last update : October 2010). The Odyssee database is available at http://www.odyssee-indicators.org/   The access is restricted to project
partners or subscribers

For EU, the data sources are the following:

  • Energy consumption by transport modes (road, water, rail, air): Eurostat
  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : Calculated for each type of vehicle by type of fuel (gasoline and diesel) from the the stock of vehicles for EU-27 is calculated as the sum of EU countries; for EU 27, the unit consumption by fuel for each type of vehicle is calculated as equal to the weighted average of 15 countries for which data are available, of which 11 EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries; the weighting factor is the number of vehicle in each country.
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). The weighting factor is the number of cars in each country.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum of countries (all data by countries available)

Downloads and more info

Breakdown of the energy consumption variation for transport in the EU-27 (1990-2008)

Breakdown of the energy consumption variation for transport in the EU-27 (1990-2008)

Note: The energy consumption variation of passenger and goods transport is broken down into 2 explanatory effects: activity effect (increase in traffic) and global energy savings (change in specific energy consumption per unit of traffic). Air transport excluded; Activity: impact of increase in traffic; modal shift : decrease in the share of public transport in total traffic; energy savings: measured from the reduction in specific consumption per unit of traffic.

Data source:

ODYSSEE database (last update : October 2010). The Odyssee database is available at http://www.odyssee-indicators.org/. The access is restricted to project

partners or subscribers.

 

Data on traffic for passengers or freight:

 

For EU, the data sources are the following:

  • Energy consumption by transport modes (road, water, rail, air): Eurostat
  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : Calculated for each type of vehicle by type of fuel (gasoline and diesel) from the the stock of vehicles for EU-27 is calculated as the sum of EU countries; for EU 27, the unit consumption by fuel for each type of vehicle is calculated as equal to the weighted average of 15 countries for which data are available, of which 11 EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries; the weighting factor is the number of vehicle in each country.
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). The weighting factor is the number of cars in each country.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum of countries (all data by countries available)

 

 

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  • Road transport represents on average 81 % of the total energy consumption in transport in EU-27 in 2008. In half of the countries however, its share is declining due to the growing importance of air transport. Cars represent almost 50% of the total energy consumption of the transport sector but this share is declining slowly ( 47% in 2008 compared to 52% in 1990), while the share of road freight transport (trucks and light- duty vehicles) is increasing (31% of total energy consumption of transport in 2008 compared to 28% in 1990). Road freight transport vehicles have the fastest energy consumption growth among road vehicles (2.2%/year compared to 1.1%/year for passenger cars) and did not slow down after 2000, as it did for other vehicles (Figure 4).
  • The energy consumption for domestic and international air transport increased at a rapid rate of about 4.6%/year between 1990 until 2000; after 2000, the sector was struck by a crisis and the progression of its fuel consumption was twice slower (2.2%/year). The energy consumption of rail and domestic water transport accounted for 4.4% of total transport energy demand (share of 2.6% for rail and 1.8% for water in 2008).The energy consumption of inland waterways decreased over the period 1990-2008 and was 10% below its 1990 level in 2008 (-0.6%/year). The consumption of rail for reduced slightly (-1% or -0.1%/year for rail transport).
  • At the EU level, the share of public transport in passenger traffic decreased by five points between 1990 and 2008, from 23% to 18%. This trend had a negative impact on the energy consumption of passenger transport, since cars consume four times more energy per passenger-km than public transport . This modal shift contributed to increase the energy consumption in transport (excluding air transport) by 7.7 Mtoe (i.e. 0.42 Mtoe/year on average) (Figure 5).
  • The growth in passenger traffic between 1990 and 2008 caused the energy consumption of passenger transport to increase by 47 Mtoe but this was partially offset by energy efficiency improvements (change in specific consumption per unit of traffic) which amounted to 25.6 Mtoe (Figure 5).
  • For freight transport, the modal shift from rail and water to road transport contributed to increase the energy consumption by 9.2 Mtoe at EU level between 1990 and 2008. The increase in freight traffic in tonne-km was responsible for a consumption increase of 40.4 Mtoe. Energy efficiency improvements (change in specific consumption per unit of traffic), due to both improved efficiency of vehicles and a better management of transport operations (load factor) led to 13.6 Mtoe of energy savings, thus partially offsetting the effect of modal shift and increase in freight traffic and limiting the energy consumption increase to 36.1 Mtoe (Figure 5).
  • Over the period 1990-2008, traffic growth and modal shift to road transport (cars for passengers and trucks for goods) contributed to increase the consumption by respectively 87.8 Mtoe (4.9 Mtoe/year) and 16.9 Mtoe (0.9 Mtoe/year). Energy savings due to changes in the specific energy consumption per unit of traffic) amounted to around 39.1 Mtoe (2.2 Mtoe/year), of which 65% for passengers and 35% for goods: they limited the increase of the energy consumption to 65.5 Mtoe (3.6 Mtoe/year)

Variation of CO2 emissions from transport (EU-27)

Variation of CO2 emissions from transport (EU-27)

Note: The figure shows the variation of CO2 emission from transport, EU-27 level CO2 represent around 99% of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from international air transport are not included in countries’ emissions (UNFCCC methodology).

Data source:

ODYSSEE database (last update : October 2010). The Odyssee database is available at http://www.odyssee-indicators.org/. The access is restricted to project
partners or subscribers

 

For EU, the data sources are the following:

  • Energy consumption by transport modes (road, water, rail, air): Eurostat
  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : Calculated for each type of vehicle by type of fuel (gasoline and diesel) from the the stock of vehicles for EU-27 is calculated as the sum of EU countries; for EU 27, the unit consumption by fuel for each type of vehicle is calculated as equal to the weighted average of 15 countries for which data are available, of which 11 EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries; the weighting factor is the number of vehicle in each country.
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). The weighting factor is the number of cars in each country.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum of countries (all data by countries available)

 

Downloads and more info

Variation of CO2 emissions in transport (EU-27)

Variation of CO2 emissions in transport (EU-27)

Note: The figure shows the variation of CO2 emissions in transport for EU-27. CO2 emissions for total transport can be split into 2 explanatory effects: an activity effet illustared by an increase in traffic of passengers and freight, CO2 savings due to the reduction in the specific emissions of vehicles per unit of traffic

Data source:

EEA. Data on CO2 from  EEA  (inventories 2010) : CO2 emissions for total transport, road, rail, waterways and domestic air based on the Annual European Community Greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2008 and inventory report 2010.

 

EEA GHG data viewer available at: http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/PivotApp/pivot.aspx?pivotid=475

 

 

Data on traffic for passengers or freight extracted from the statistical pocketbook "EU Energy and transport in figures" (DG Energy and transport).  Available at : http://ec.europa.eu/transport/publications/statistics/doc/2009_energy_transport_figures.pdf

 

For EU, the data sources are the following:

  • Energy consumption by transport modes (road, water, rail, air): Eurostat
  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : Calculated for each type of vehicle by type of fuel (gasoline and diesel) from the the stock of vehicles for EU-27 is calculated as the sum of EU countries; for EU 27, the unit consumption by fuel for each type of vehicle is calculated as equal to the weighted average of 15 countries for which data are available, of which 11 EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries; the weighting factor is the number of vehicle in each country.
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). The weighting factor is the number of cars in each country.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum of countries (all data by countries available)

 

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  • CO2 emissions from transport have increased by almost 24% since 1990: as a result, transport represented in 2008 42% of total CO2 emissions of final consumers (i.e. excluding the power sector) compared to 32% in 1990. Between 2000 and 2007, the increase of emissions from transport has slowed down (1%/year compared to 1.6%/year over 1990-2000); in 2008 emissions decreased by 1.8%.
  • Road transport represented 94% of total CO2 emissions from transport in 2007 (Figure 6). Emissions from cars have increased by 18% since 1990 and represented around 54% of the total transport CO2 emissions in 2008. The emissions from road freight transport increased by nearly 40% between 1990 and 2008 and made up 37% of the total emissions of transport (compared to 32% in 1990).
  • Although emissions from domestic air transport represented only 2% of the total (CO2 emissions from transport), they are increasing at a very fast pace. In 2008, CO2 emissions from domestic transport were 26% higher than they were in 1990.
  • The increase in the traffic of passengers and freight should have increased CO2 emissions in transport by    356 Mt CO2 between 1990 and 2008 but the reduction in the specific emissions of road vehicles per unit of traffic led to 171 Mt of CO2 emissions savings over the same period thus offsetting partly the effect of increased passenger and freight traffic (Figure 7). Around 30% of the savings come from trucks and light vehicles, 60% from cars, 6% for domestic air and 3% for rail.

 

Supporting information

Indicator definition

  • Energy efficiency progress (Figure 1) is measured from the ODEX indicator. This index aggregates the unit consumption trends for each transport mode in a single indicator for the whole sector.                         
  • The energy consumption variation of passenger transport in Figure 5 is broken down into 3 explanatory effects: activity effect (increase in traffic), modal shift effect (from private transport to public transport modes) and energy savings (change in specific consumption per unit of traffic). A positive “modal shift effect” means that the share of public passenger transport in passenger traffic is decreasing (shift from public transport to cars)  or the road in total freight traffic is increasing (shift from rail-water to road): this offsets energy savings.
  • CO2 emissions for total transport are split into 2 explanatory effects (Figure 7): an activity effect due to an increase in traffic of passengers and freight, CO2 savings due to the reduction in the specific emissions of vehicles per unit of traffic.

Units

ODEX indicator: #

Energy consumption: Mtoe/year

CO2 emissions: Mt CO2


 

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

Energy efficiency and energy consumption are intrinsically linked. Increased energy efficiency can lead to significant reductions in energy consumption provided that measures are in place to discourage the occurrence of rebound effects. Reducing energy consumption in transport as a result of energy efficiency progress and other factors such as fuel prices, modal shift, etc, can lead to significant reductions in environmental pressures, such as greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions.

Scientific references

  • No rationale references available
 

Policy context and targets

Context description

Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council.
It sets emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles.

  • Climate action and renewable energy package (CARE Package) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/climate_action.htm
  • Energy efficiency: delivering the 20% target  - COM(2008) 772 final
    European leaders committed themselves to reduce primary energy consumption by 20% compared to projections for 2020. Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way of reducing energy consumption while maintaining an equivalent level of economic activity. Improving energy efficiency also addresses the key energy challenges of climate change, energy security and competitiveness.
  • Action Plan for Energy Efficiency: Realising the Potential [COM(2006) 545]
    This Action Plan outlines a framework of policies and measures with a view to intensify the process of realising the over 20% estimated savings potential in EU annual primary energy consumption by 2020. The Plan lists a range of cost-effective measures, proposing priority actions to be initiated immediately, and others to be initiated gradually over the Plan's six-year period. Further action will subsequently be required to reach the full potential by 2020.
  • Commission Green Paper, 22 June 2005, "Energy Efficiency - or Doing More With Less" [COM(2005) 265 final
    It outlines the need to adopt specific measures to improve energy efficiency
  • Decision No 1639/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 establishing a Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007 to 2013)
    Energy and transport play a large part in climate change since they are the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions; this is why energy policy is particularly important in the European Union's sustainable development strategy. The EU is increasingly dependent on energy imported from Non-EU Member Countries, creating economic, social, political and other risks for the Union.
    The EU therefore wishes to reduce its dependence and improve its security of supply by promoting other energy sources and cutting demand for energy. Consequently, it is putting the accent, above all, on improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy sources, in particular though the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme (IEE).

Targets

No targets have been specified

Related policy documents

 

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

ODEX indicator is calculated at the level of 8 modes or vehicle types: cars, trucks, light vehicles, motorcycles, buses, total air transport, rail, and water transport. For cars, energy efficiency is measured by the specific consumption, expressed in litre/100km; for the transport of goods (trucks and light vehicles), the unit consumption per ton-km is used, as the main activity is to move goods; for other modes of transport various indicators of unit consumption are used, taking for each mode the most relevant indicator given the statistics available: toe/passenger for air, goe/pass-km for passenger rail, goe/ton-km for transport of goods by rail and water, toe per vehicle for motorcycles and buses.

The variation of the weighted index of the unit consumption by mode between t-1 and t is defined as follows:

 It -1/It = Sumi (ECi,t) * ( UCi,t/UCi,t-1)  
with : energy share EC i  (consumption of each mode i in total transport consumption);
unit consumption index UC i (ratio : consumption related to traffic or specific consumption in l/100 km for cars)
t refers the current year, t-1 to the previous year
The value at year t can be derived from the value at the previous year by reversing the calculation:
                   It /It -1= 1/( It -1/It)
ODEX is set at 100 for a reference year and successive values are then derived for each year t by the value of ODEX at year t-1 multiplied by It /It -1.     

Methodology for gap filling

  • Energy consumption by type of road vehicle (car, truck & light vehicle, bus) : calculated as a sum of data by country with a sample of 15 countries (of which 11 main EU-15 countries and 4 new member countries).
  • Specific consumption of cars in litre /100 km: extrapolated with Odyssee national data (15 countries available, of which the 11 main EU-15 countries plus Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). A weighted average specific consumption of cars for the countries for which we have data is calculated, using as a weighting factor the number of cars in each country, and the same value is assumed for the EU-27.
  • Stock of vehicles: as a sum (all data by countries available)

 

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

 

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified

Data sets uncertainty

Not all data is available for all countries. Odyssee database is updated twice a year  : the last version of the database is August 2009, with most data and indicators updated until 2007.

The reliability of total transport energy consumption and related CO2 emissions is reliable due to trustworthy statistics underlying it. Division of the energy consumption by vehicles (cars, trucks and light vehicles, bus...) is less accurate, because it is based on assumptions.

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified

Data sources

Other info

DPSIR: State
Typology: Efficiency indicator (Type C - Are we improving?)
Indicator codes
  • ENER 023
EEA Contact Info info@eea.europa.eu

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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/energy-efficiency-and-energy-consumption/assessment-1 or scan the QR code.

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Dates

First draft created:
05 Jul 2011, 10:11 AM
Publish date:
19 Sep 2011, 03:02 PM
Last modified:
11 May 2021, 11:41 AM

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