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Environmental information systems
Promoting sustainable modes like trains and inland waterway transport can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental pressures. The European Union's Sustainable and Smart Mobility strategy underlines the importance of a shift towards greener freight transport, by doubling rail freight traffic by 2050 for instance. However, the share of train and inland waterways in Europe's total freight transport peaked in 2012 and has been declining since. Achieving a modal shift towards greener freight transport will require decisive action and a change in long-standing trends.
Figure 1. Share of inland waterways and trains in total inland freight transport in the EU-27
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In 2020, under the umbrella of the European Green Deal, the European Commission adopted a Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy aimed at promoting, inter alia, the use of more sustainable transport modes. Among the objectives of the strategy is to double the rail freight traffic by 2050 and increase transport by inland waterways and short sea shipping by 25% by 2030. Achieving these results could reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, and other environmental pressures such as noise. Changes to the EU’s mobility system are vital to realise the green and digital transformation ambitions and become more resilient to future crises.
Since 2010, the share of total freight transport demand met by trains and inland waterways peaked at 27% in 2012. It has steadily fallen since, reaching a share of 22% in 2022.
At the same time, total inland freight transport activity increased by 15% between 2010 and 2022, indicating an increase in the use of both road and non-road transportation in absolute terms. Significant efforts to encourage the use of rail and inland waterways freight transport are needed to achieve a shift towards more sustainable modes. This requires improvement in the existing infrastructure and its use, and more efficient and digital logistics.
The European Commission launched important initiatives for the supply side, such as the revised TEN-T regulation (entered into force in July 2024) and rail capacity regulation. Effects are yet to be seen, yet they aim to improve European infrastructure and make its use more efficient. As part of the Greening Freight package, initiatives such as CountEmissionsEU will provide a common methodological approach for transportation companies to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions and benchmark their services. This will allow consumers to make informed choices on transport and delivery options.
Digitalisation also provides practical tools to internalise the external costs of transport and raise awareness of the pressures exerted by our freight mobility needs and preferences. The European Commission is working on frameworks to support combined freight transport and smarter, paperless logistics, as outlined in EEA's TERM report. In this context, investments and funding are also required to finance safe, clean and modern infrastructure that ensures access to a sustainable freight transport system for all.
Figure 2. Changes in the share of inland waterways and trains in freight transport across European countries between 2010 and 2022
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The use of trains and inland waterways in freight transport activity differs across Europe, both in terms of share values and time evolution. Between 2010 and 2022, five EU Member States increased their shares. The increase is greater than one percentage point for Italy and Portugal only. Italy experienced the greatest growth, at 3.2 points of share. Shares of trains and inland waterways has declined by more than five percentage points in 11 countries.
For all other EEA member and cooperating countries for which data are available, similar trends were observed. Notably, Norway's share decreased by 0.9 percentage points and Switzerland's share decreased by 0.3 percentage points .
To fully transition to a more sustainable mobility system, a combination of approaches will be needed, such as a more efficient freight transport system. Encouraging intermodal transport whereby goods are moved using multiple transport modes is important in reducing the impacts of supply chains. Leveraging opportunities offered by digitalisation from an environmental perspective, and simplifiying administrative burdens will also bring significant benefits to the freight transport system.