Mobility
Mobility has become one of the key enablers of the Commission to fulfil its duties. With the digitalisation of our ways of working and the development of soft or green mobility, the Commission will reduce the environmental impact linked to travels whilst ensuring that it continues to reach out to stakeholders, international partners, and the public.
At the top, the year 2030 appears as a long-term reference point. On the left side, illustrations include a bicycle, trees, green buildings, and a mobile phone displaying a map and connection symbol, representing sustainable and digital mobility solutions. On the right side, visuals include a woman running, an electric car, solar panels, houses, trees, and a wind turbine, reinforcing themes of clean transport and renewable energy.
In the centre of the image, the text “2019–2024” is displayed alongside the statement “Mobility-related emissions reduction: more than 40%,” accompanied by a downward arrow. A high-speed train graphic appears nearby, symbolizing lower-emission travel alternatives.
To the right of the central text, three circular callouts highlight specific reductions achieved between 2019 and 2024:
50% decrease in staff commuting 59% decrease in experts’ travel 23% decrease in staff professional travel Each percentage is paired with a red downward arrow to visually indicate reduction.
At the bottom of the image, a grey airplane and grey clouds appear next to the baseline year 2019, symbolizing previous higher-emission travel patterns before the reductions were achieved.
The overall design uses green and blue tones to emphasize sustainability, with contrasting grey elements to represent past emissions levels.
Reducing emissions from professional travel
Emissions are calculated using specific factors for the different modes of travel as shown in the figure below. Air travel is particularly important, accounting for over 90% of missions emissions. Accordingly the difference between the factors for different classes of air travel are an significant when deciding how to reduce emissions. Flights in economy or premium economy class generate significantly lower emissions per kilometer than those in business class. The factors take into account both flight and upstream (or Well to Tank, or WTT) emissions - those associated with extracting the fuel and making it available for use.
Emission factors for staff professional travel in 2024 gCO2e/passenger.km
Emissions from staff professional travel*, tCO2e
* NB 1) New methodology and definition of categories since 2019, 2) Emissions factors for air travel increased by nearly 20% for travel in 2024, 3) Reporting for the first time emissions for staff at all work sites, 4) Other sites - data since 2019 only
The figure above shows a dramatic drop in professional travel emissions due to the Covid outbreak in 2020, and that continued in 2021, before a "rebound" resulting from increased staff presence at workplaces and rising mobility levels in 2022 to 2024.
The increase in 2024 (from 2023), is partly a methodological lag effect due to lower occupancy of passenger aircraft during the Covid period. This masks the efforts made by staff over this period, as can be seen in the following figure, navigate to distribution of services' staff mission emissions reductions, 2019 - 2024 on this tab, where the emissions above are compared with emissions calculated with factors fixed since 2019. Using the latter approach it is evident that there has been a reduction in travel since 2023, although reported emissions (with variable factors) have increased. Emissions factors should fall as aircraft occupancy rates increased again.
Background
Data from staff missions has been extracted from a new dashboard developed by the Paymasters Office (PMO). This uses the information encoded in the Commission's management system for professional travel (MiPS+).
Staff define the geographical parameters of their travel itineraries, identifying individual travel segments and the mode of travel for each. The conversion factors described above (and that are reviewed annually) are used to calculate the emissions based on the distance and mode of travel.
The new dashboard was used to calculate emissions back to 2019 and provides more accurate real-time output than data previously extracted from the MiPS green reporting tool; the latter already having simplified by centralising the calculation of missing emissions which had previously been processed from disparate sources.
Greening Communication objective
A core component of the Commission's 2030 emissions reduction target is to reduce staff missions emissions by 50% from 2019 to 2024. To deliver this, 50 of 51 services pledged to reduce emissions. As shown in the figure below, 16 services met or exceeded the 2019 -24 reduction target while further 13 services achieved between a 30% and 50% reduction.
Distribution of services' staff mission emissions reductions, 2019 - 2024
Other tools to assist reducing mission emissions include:
- A new Guide to Missions (under finalisation in 2024), allowing train travel in certain circumstances when more costly than flying
- Display of emissions by different transport modes on the missions booking tool to increase awareness of the environmental consequences of different travel choices.
Reducing emissions from professional travel
The figures mentioned below provide a detailed breakdown of modal data extracted from MiPS+. The distinction between the two figures as summarised above is as follows:
- In the second figure below, navigate on this tab, the emission factors (obtained from DEFRA) are revised annually. They usually vary little from year to year, but the factors that are applied to 2024 travel data increased much more significantly as described above.
- In the third figure below , navigate on this tab, the emission factors used for calculating emissions in 2019 are also applied to the following years. An additional minor adjustment is also applied to allow for the category of travel Commission's car without a driver since MiPS+ lacked a factor for the period 2019-2023. This adjustment does not affect the total missions emissions because service car emissions are accounted for using real fuel consumption. This also explains the slightly different totals for 2019 in the figures. The reported emissions reduction from 2019 to 2024 is 23% for the first table and 35% for the second. Therefore the Commission's has reduced its travel more than the calculated emissions would imply.
Mission emissions since 2019 using variable and fixed emissions factors (tCO2e)
Total professional travel emissions by mode (2019 - 2024), tCO2e
Total professional travel emissions by mode (2019 - 2024) with 2019 emission factors, tCO2e
Emissions intensity by site
The figure below displays the carbon intensity for the sites between 2019 and 2024, based on PMO dashboard data. It is evident that Luxembourg, and JRC Karlsruhe have the lowest values (below 0,2 kgCO2e/km) which is indicative of a greater proportion of surface travel and or predominantly economy class travel by air.
Grange has the highest value as many of its staff are inspectors who travel widely from Ireland, and consequently largely by air.
Carbon intensity is a useful measure that should reduce as staff fly less (or in economy rather than business class), or convert to surface travel, particularly rail.
Emissions intensity per site, gCO2e/passenger.km
Reducing emissions from experts’ travel
The Commission has included in its carbon footprint emissions for expert travel (covered by the Commission's administrative budget) since 2021, extending the calculations back to 2019.
The calculations use a database describing an expert's country of origin with mode of travel assumed based on distance. In 2024 the Commission developed a more automated approach to calculate 2023 data.
A more systematic method to allocate meetings by site is under development, so currently all experts' travel emissions are allocated to Brussels. Emissions are summarised in the figure below which suggests that emissions in 2024 reduced almost by 60% the emissions from experts' travels compared to 2019.
Total experts' missions emissions (2019-2024) by mode, tCO2e
Greener commuting options
The figure below illustrates emissions from staff commuting by site. The values from 2019 onwards have been updated, incorporating information from a staff survey conducted in 2022 to assess emissions at various sites. These were re-evaluated using the 2023 population and attendance data, along with revised emission factors. Additionally, a new commuting survey was conducted in 2024, and the results are included in this statement for 2024, using the same approach for calculation as the latest 2022 survey results.
The calculations use a Commission wide average for the number of working days according to HR data that takes into account bank holidays, sick leave, annual leave, and other absences. Prior to 2019 not all sites reported commuting emissions.
Evolution of commuting emissions, tCO2e
The Greening communication requires that the following Corporate level actions be completed:
- Revision of the mobility policy (in progress) in relation to commuting
- Facilitation of charging electric or hybrid vehicles at some Commission car parks.
COBRACE (1) compliance works were carried out as part of the extension of different buildings’ environmental permits. Since 2017 the Commission has removed 4 529 parking spaces including 977 in 2023.
A parking reservation system (Where2Park) has been developed and is gradually implemented (so far in 24 buildings) to facilitate the transition to the reduction of the number of parking spaces in EC premises.
Currently around 6,000 bicycle parking spaces are available. Since 2020, almost 1 600 new bicycle parking spaces have been created, including 1 400 in 4 eco-mobility hubs.
The demand for electric bike chargers has risen substantially and OIB has steadily increased the number of chargers available. In 2024, a cargo bike has been made available to the catering unit in order to carry out small inter-site errands with it. The service bicycles fleet is composed of 284 bicycles, including 71 electric-assist bikes. Bike repair stations are available to staff in the bicycle parking areas of the following buildings: BERL, BRE2 (HUB), COVE, CSM1 (HUB), DM24, J-30, L-41 (HUB), L130 (HUB), MADO, SB34, SPA3, W910. Finally, the mobility actions organised by OIB in 2024 enabled 261 colleagues to follow Bike Repair or Safe Cycling training.
As the 2024 Mobility Survey shows, these strategies have contributed to a 10% increase in the modal share of public transport (43%) and a 3% increase for active modes (34%) since 2022. Cars now represent only 23% of the modal share.
(1) Code bruxellois de l'Air, du Climat et de la Maitrise de l'Energie
In March 2020, when all public transport became free of charge in Luxembourg, OIL put in place a scheme to partially reimburse the public transport ticket for staff members living abroad (Germany, France or Belgium). An increase in the cross-border pass reimbursement for all requests submitted from 1 October 2024 was announced, with a higher reimbursement of 85% of the pass price with a maximum of €500 per year. In 2024, there were 247 requests reimbursed, an increase of 92% compared to 2022 and 25% compared to 2023.
In addition, the Commission continues to offer free subscription to Vel’OH!, the self-service bike rental system of Luxembourg City.
In 2024, 75 new codes were attributed with a total of 546 active staff members.
Commission staff continues to benefit from the use of the Parliament's shuttle between Luxembourg and Brussels, with 141 one-way trips in 2024. OIL's service bike fleet has been completely renewed with 15 new bikes out of 17 in total.
Most JRC sites are located in remote areas, which makes it more difficult for staff to use sustainable modes of transportation as the sites are often not well connected by public transport. The JRC nevertheless supports sustainable commuting by organising shuttle buses or offering service bikes/e-bikes and providing showers and bike parking infrastructures. Charging stations for electric vehicles and electric/hybrid service vehicles are also available on most of the JRC sites. The JRC also performs awareness-raising activities as a strong sense of responsibility on the part of all staff is essential to achieving the ambitious Commission's target.
- JRC Geel was legally required to complete the FOD Mobility Survey launched in 2024. The survey was conducted alongside other Commission sites. JRC Geel analysed the results to estimate the carbon footprint of staff commuting, considering on-site presence, return trip distances, and primary modes of transport. The survey confirmed that JRC Geel's staff primarily commute by car, due to the site's remoteness and inadequate public transport schedules.
At the JRC Ispra site, commuting staff emissions (641 tCO2e in 2024) are mostly related to the use of private cars. In 2024, there was a reduction in emissions of about 9% compared to 2023. The reduction in emissions is due to the contribution of the use of electric cars and the increase in the use of bicycles and the JRC Bus (approximately + 3% for both compared to previous data). In 2024, a Corporate Transport Survey was carried out.
This was used to calculate the JRC Ispra commuting mode split. This revealed that the car is the most commonly used mode of transport (used by 71,4% of staff + 4,6% of electric cars) as that the site is not connected to a widespread public transport system, followed by the bicycle (11%) and the JRC bus (8,8 %).
Ispra Site Management is committed to foster a more sustainable commuting, in particular looking into creating synergies with public transport. From June 2021, following an agreement with the local public transport agency TPL, the site has a terminal stop at the main entrance for two main public bus lines, connecting the site with the city of Varese and other regional transport hubs. In 2025 a site specific transport survey will be carried out to further detail the data and obtain useful information for defining a site mobility plan.
- In JRC Karlsruhe, the CO2e footprint of staff commuting was estimated in 2016 with a survey conducted on site using a simple approach considering the main and potentially second modes of transport along with the distance to the workplace. The CO2e commuting footprint resulted in approximately 273 tonnes per year. In 2022, the Commission-wide mobility survey resulted in slightly higher values. However, as this survey uses only data based on the first "main" mode of transport, these results should be looked at carefully.
- In JRC Petten, the majority of staff reside in and around the next city, Alkmaar. JRC Petten organise three buses with different routes between Petten and Alkmaar and surroundings. One bus links Petten and Amsterdam. Furthermore, service bikes (together with showers) are provided, giving the staff the options to cycle within and beyond the site perimeter.
- JRC Seville, as in other sites a mobility survey was conducted in 2024 garnered responses from approximately 40% of the staff, with over 50% indicating that they commute by bicycle, walking, or public transport. The site is encompassed by a comprehensive network of bike paths, as well as several bus lines. Furthermore, staff have access to safe bike parking and shower facilities. Lastly, five electric vehicle chargers have been installed in the building, of which two are for exclusive use of JRC staff.
The rural location of our site and the poor public transport network make it difficult for staff to use sustainable modes of transport. An increase staff in purchasing EVs led to a feasibility study for installation of EV chargers in 2023. Unfortunately, due to technical and resources reasons it still has not been possible to launch the procurement procedure in 2024.
In 2024, the average response rate was 75%, hence, the surveys can be considered highly representative. The above figure, navigate to evolution of commuting emissions, tCO2e in this tab, show the evolution of total commuting emissions by House of Europe. In 2024, emission factors from local sources were used where available and the local electricity grid was taken into account for electric modes of transport. Overall, commuting emissions have reduced by 24% since 2019, notably thanks to the mainstreaming of teleworking. There was an increase in emissions compared to 2023, in part due to increased office presence and activity prior to the European Elections. Compared to 2023, decreases of commuting emissions in Nicosia and Sofia can be attributed to a decrease in the use of diesel cars. Increase in emissions from Copenhagen and Valletta may be partly due to bias in the responses due to a lower response rate than last year (approximately 53% in 2024 compared to 80% in 2023). Of the responses received in Copenhagen, train and metro accounted for 83% in 2024, compared to 44% in 2023, and there was a reduction in responses from commuters by bicycle and walking. In Valletta, commuters by ferry previously selected walking as their primary mode, whereas in 2024, the category for ferry was included. In Vienna, there was an increase in electric and hybrid cars and metro use, and a decrease in the train, tram, and walking among the respondents (response rate went down from 95% to 85%). These factors further explain the increases in emissions.
In 2024, the House of the EU in Vienna continued to use the night train connection between Vienna and Brussels for school groups visiting the institutions, with the objective of reducing CO2e emissions. Even though the train connection takes much more time and sometimes faces delays, the pupils enjoy taking the night train and see it as an adventure. In addition, the teachers who take the night train are multipliers and thus help to promote the possibility of train travel in the EU.
Developing a more sustainable vehicle fleet
The Commission sites have sought to rationalise their fleets, and in recent years the total number of vehicles has been below 300. They also seek to use more vehicles with no (or lower) tailpipe emissions, and the proportion of the total vehicle fleet comprising hybrid or electrical vehicles has risen to 68%. The evolution in manufacturer tailpipe emissions is presented in the figure below, navigate to Evolution of Commission vehicle fleet characteristics in this tab.
Brussels has steadily increased the number of hybrid and electrical vehicles in the fleet, since 2019 it represents a majority of vehicles.
All Commission fleet cars in Luxembourg are being gradually replaced by less polluting leased cars, leading to a reduction in manufacturer emissions. At the end of 2024, 22 of 32 vehicles or 69 % of the fleet, is either a full electric or a hybrid car.
Approximately half of the vehicles in use at the JRC (not only cars but also mini bus, vans, forklifts, etc.) are electric or hybrid electric vehicles. This number went up in the past years and progress is even more significant in terms of CO2e emissions linked to the use of JRC's vehicles fleet. In addition to greening its fleet, the JRC has also taken further steps towards greener mobility. For example, via the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles or the offer of alternatives to cars such as services bikes/e-bikes (see section 5.3c).
- In 2024, JRC Geel has increased it vehicle fleet with two small electric carts allowing, the cleaning service and staff members, the transport of some waste streams at central location (e.g the container park).
- In 2023, JRC Geel's vehicle fleet was unchanged from 2022. The total CO2e missions increased by 23% due to higher kilometers made by the inspections rounds from the security service, and to send the fire truck for repairs and maintenance.
The JRC Ispra service vehicle fleet counts 107 vehicles, which support site staff in their research and other technical and operational activities, providing mostly internal mobility. The fleet includes mobile laboratories, the internal postal service, firefighting, ambulance and other work vehicles. In 2024 and 2023 the electric vehicles totaled 55 units, while combustion vehicles decreased by three units.
The four electric vehicles bought in 2024 will be operational in 2025. 35 recharging points for internal electric vehicles (EVs) have been installed with a monitoring system that allows the site to monitor the EV's electrical consumption (15.89 MWh in 2024 with a 7.8% increase with respect to 2022) and their indirect upstream CO2 emissions.
In an effort to promote sustainable mobility, JRC Ispra has also upgraded its service bicycles policy, which comprises a dedicated on-site service which manages 198 service bicycles (of which 45 are electric).
- JRC Karlsruhe has a fleet of 11 vehicles, five of which are primarily or exclusively used on the premises. Four electric cars became operational since mid-2022. In 2024, the fleet emitted a combined CO2e output of 4.3 t, once again significantly lower than the year before. The contribution of CO2e emissions from cars to the site's carbon footprint is very low (e.g., 0.1% in 2024 or 0.2% in 2023).
- JRC Petten has four site service vehicles, which are used for internal goods transport, missions, taxi support to Schiphol and Petten. One of the service vehicles is an electric car. In addition, 40 service bicycles are available, which can be used within and outside the site premises.
- In JRC Seville no longer has a service car.
DG SANTE at Grange no longer has a service car
The Commission's DG COMM is greening the Representation’s car fleet, aiming for a 100% zero or low emission fleet by 2027 and 100% zero emission fleet by 2030. The share of electric or hybrid vehicles in the seven Representations in EMAS scope stood at 50% in 2024. In many countries, the pace of fleet electrification in hampered by the insufficient coverage of public chargers to allow cross-country missions and restrictions on the installation of chargers in garages due to fire risks.
Related procurements are fully integrating the recommended EU Green Public Procurement criteria for road transport. Larger Representations have two vehicles (an official and a service car), while smaller ones, such as Nicosia and Valletta, have only one official car. Copenhagen reported 3 vehicles in 2024, of which one is earmarked for sale, following replacement with an electric one. EPLOs do not have a vehicle fleet.
The evolution of the overall vehicle fleet
The figure below shows that there is a long term downward trend in vehicle fleet emissions, although in 2022 there was a slight rise, probably due to the regularisation of office activities after the Covid pandemic.