Last week I travelled to Piraeus (Greece) to attend the 1st training course and the 3rd Steering Committee meeting of the Erasmus+ i2SustainIT project that EPN Consulting coordinates.
While in Greece I looked at the fuel prices and I noticed a huge difference between the price of gasoline and diesel (the latter 28-30 Eurocents cheaper). This made me think of a couple of other examples: Italy where diesel is only 10-15 Eurocents cheaper than gasoline and the UK where since last decade diesel has been considered very polluting and for this reason priced higher than gasoline.
This sounds as a contradiction: either diesel is scientifically proved to be more polluting than gasoline, then it should be highly taxed in every single country or the price that every country puts on this fuel depends on local financial regulations which may conflict with scientific results.
Besides, when travelling from country to country where the gap between fuels prices varies, this confuses individuals about the several items of news about causes of pollution (e.g. transport is not the only nor the major one) and the future of cars.
In the recent years, there have been huge campaigns worldwide about moving the vehicles market from traditional to electric powertrains. Buying a diesel car today sounds as a decision from the past, made from someone not aligned with the current green sensitivity and market trends. As a matter of fact, we all understand that a fully electric car doesn’t pollute while travelling, however it is not completely clear where the electricity used to charge the car comes from, whether the renewable energy sources used – if mentioned – are certified in every single step of their supply chain, etc.
Last but not least, the issue of the EU Emissions Trading System : is this really helpful to reduce the overall generation of CO2 or not?
Many of us receive daily confusing messages from several online and offline media and it is pretty hard to understand whether an “environmentally-friendly” decision is then really friendly in the end.
Stefano Mainero
EPN Consulting Founder & CEO