Nickel with its wide range of applications in transportation and infrastructure will be of key importance to achieve the targets set in the Commission Transport White Paper

The Nickel Institute takes note of the recently published Transport White Paper from theEuropean Commission “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system1” and the Draft report of MEP Mathieu Grosch. Overall, it believes that nickel will make an important contribution to achieving the objectives set out in this strategic plan by serving as important inputs into the delivery of required physical infrastructure and new technologies.

The Nickel Institute is very willing to work with the European Parliament, the European Commission and EU Member States on its development and roll-out. Furthermore, it awaits with great interest the legislative proposals that will follow in the next decade.

Sustainable Mobility

The Nickel Institute supports the objective of putting mobility on a sustainable path and considers that green mobility should be a key element in any European Commission initiative focusing on Transport It recognizes that Europe faces a formidable balancing act and welcomes the Rapporteurs’ proposal to set mid - term priority goals for 2020 According to the White Paper the cost of EU infrastructure development to match the demand for transport has been estimated at over € 1.5 trillion for 2010-2030. While this investment is essential for mobility and economic development, a reduction of at least 60% of GHGs by 2050 with respect to 1990 is required from the transport sector.

Efficient co-modality should be the guiding idea for the future transport policy and it is

therefore essential that the investment is highly green and sustainable. Nickel is part of the solution to achieving more sustainable mobility. It is a high performance material that plays a key role in highly efficient, durable, long-life components that enable clean, efficient energy, including batteries for electrical and hybrid cars, efficient gas turbines for power generation, wind turbines, fuel cells, aviation and solar power.

Leveraging New Technologies

The Nickel Institute welcomes the commitment by the Commission to devise an innovation and deployment strategy for the transport sector as well as existing methods for saving energy. The White Paper correctly points out that new technologies for vehicles and traffic management will be key to lower transport emissions in the EU as in the rest of the world. Indeed, other regions of the world could gain from Europe as a production and research centre for all forms of transport sharing its green ideas and technological leadership. Nickel can make a valuable contribution to supporting the deployment of new technologies as nickel-containing

materials are essential to provide the performance and durability requirements. Nickel is essential in high end alloy applications used in many innovation technologies in sectors like transport, energy storage, IT and environmental technologies. 

Infrastructure that lasts 

The Nickel Institute supports the objective of a core network of strategic European infrastructure. Moreover, it welcomes the proposals to develop a new funding framework for transport infrastructure and new proposals for urban mobility by 2015. Physical Transport infrastructure built on strong sustainable foundations is required for reaching the objectives desired by 2050. Nickel and nickel containing materials such as stainless steel is highly suitable for supporting these sturdy foundations. It is a vital raw material in many downstream and end user sectors as shown in the criticality assessment of the Raw Materials Initiative. Furthermore, Nickel can be recycled without degradation in quality. Its high economic value at the products end of life ensures their collection andr ecycling. Its use therefore helps the Transport policy to fit with the EU’s Resource Efficiency Flagship and the recently presented Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe.

The Nickel Institute is a nonprofit organization that represents the interests of 27 companies which together produce more than 75% of the world’s annual nickel output. We promote on behalf of our members the production, use and re-use (through recycling) of nickel in a socially and environmental responsible manner.

Nickel Institute

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E-mail : mmistry@nickelinstitute.org

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