The European Commission published the 2016 EU Transport Scoreboard on 27 October 2016. In this scoreboard, there are statistical data which gives indications on the latest developments with respect to the transport sector in the Member States. The scoreboard is prepared with data from Eurostat, the European Energy Agency, the World Bank, OECD and other organisations. Within that framework, the Commission aims at following closely the performances achieved by each Member State with respect to the transport sector.

The EU Transport Scoreboard includes information with respect to road transportation, railways, maritime transportation and air transportation. In this year’s scoreboard, the performances achieved by the Member States have been analysed in 30 different categories. Moreover, it has been reminded that transport accounts for 23% of all greenhouse gas emissions (at the exclusion of international shipping) and for 33% of all energy consumed in Europe. The Commission also underlined that its overarching aim is to work towards achieving a transport sector which is safer, more available and affordable for all EU citizens.

The Transport Scoreboard includes notably data regarding the following categories:

- The Single Market

- Infrastructure

- Environmental effects

- Security

- The implementation of EU law

- Violations of EU law

- Research and development policies

- Logistics

Moreover, the scoreboard includes a table which ranks Member States regarding their respective best and worst performances in the various categories. The average score is calculated by the subtraction of the positive score with the negative score.

As last year, the Member State which has shown the best performance and acquired the top rank has been the Netherlands with high scores in 15 categories. The Netherlands is followed by Sweden, Germany and Austria. It was noted that all of these countries share a solid framework with respect to investment in the transport sector, good performance in terms of safety and a good record in terms of implementation of EU law.

The main findings of the scoreboard are as follows:

Low emission mobility 

The scoreboard highlighted that important progress has been achieved towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility in the EU. In that respect, it added the increase in the share of renewable energy for transport as well the number of new cars using alternative fuels. On the other hand, it did underscore that there still remain important discrepancies between the Member States in that area, indicating that there is a significant potential to accelerate the shift towards low-emission mobility across the EU. The Commission also underlined that it did adopt a European Strategy for low-emission mobility in July 2016 in that respect. 

Infrastructure

The scoreboard indicated that there remain differences in terms of transport infrastructures between the Member States. In that context, it reminded that additional investments are scheduled to take place in the upcoming years within the framework of the Connecting Europe Facility along with the Investment Plan for Europe prepared by the Commission.

People

In terms of consumer satisfaction, it was explained that it has significantly increased in all modes of transport (urban, rail, air). Furthermore, another positive aspect that was highlighted is the fact that the number of road deaths has been stagnating. In that respect, it was reminded that roads across the EU are among the safest in the world. The Commission called upon the Member States to further enhance their efforts with the aim of reaching the 2020 target of halving the number of road deaths. Last but not least, the scoreboard also underscored that the number of women employed in the transport sector has been increasing. Nonetheless, it also indicated that as such, the overall share of women remains low. In that area, it was noted that the Commission is considering initiatives in order to further strengthen employment opportunities for women in the transport sector.  

Deniz SERVANTIE, Junior Researcher

Please find below the ranking of Member States within the 2016 EU Transport Scoreboard:

Source: European Commission