TOSCA
Background
The EU has committed to reducing GHG (Green-House Gase) emissions by at least 20 % based upon the 1990 level by 2020 and further reductions are expected beyond that timeframe. However, realizing this and subsequent targets may become increasingly challenging, given the past growth and future projections of transportation GHG emissions.
About TOSCA
TOSCA is an 18-month EU Framework 7-funded project, beginning in September 2009, aimed at investigating the potential for technologies and fuels to reduce the environmental impact of transport within the EU to 2050. The work is being carried out by a consortium of seven organisations across Europe with expertise in a wide range of areas related to transportation and the environment. The proposed activity enables the EU to obtain a better strategic perspective as to what contribution future transportation technologies and fuels could make to reduce GHG emissions.
Concept
The TOSCA project's main objective is to identify the most promising technology and fuel pathways that could help reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions both over the short term (2020) and beyond (2050). To better understand the policy interventions that are necessary to push (potentially expensive) technologies and fuels into the market, a further objective is to assess the pentration of these options under different future scenario and policy conditions. These scenario outputs are then evaluated with regard to their technical feasibility, economic affordability, and overall liklihood of realisation. TOSCA operates on a total transport sector basis, with work packages devoted to road traffic, aircraft, shipping, rail traffic, infrastructure capacity and fuels, as well as scenarios and policies.
Participants
For preparation of this strategic document for the EU commission a number of European research institutes are involved:
- University of Cambridge, UK
- German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ), Germany
- Ecorys, Netherlands
- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), Switzerland
- Royal Instititute of Technology (KTH), Sweden
- National Technical University of Athens, Greece
- Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
KTH is work-package leader for railways.
Partcipants from KTH:
- Prof. Evert Andersson (WP leader)
- Prof. Mats Berg
- Prof. Bo-Lennart Nelldal
- Dr. Oskar Fröidh
TOSCA is planned for final report and seminar in spring 2011.
Publications
- Andersson E and Berg M: Greenhouse gas emissions from rail services – Present and future. Proceedings of Railways and Environment, Delft, 16-17 December 2010.