EU plans calls for alternative fuel cars

BRUSSELS, March 29 (UPI) -- Cars run on alternative fuels and a $2.1 billion "Single European Transport Area" are in the European Union's future, a strategy document said.

The much-awaited European Commission white paper calls for European cities to be free from gasoline cars by the year 2050 and proposes massive infrastructure investment to create a single transport center in the next two decades, the EUobserver reported.

Included are a raft of pro-green measures to ensure the EU cuts its transport emissions by 60 percent.

However, critics indicated they were not happy with the pace of the cuts.

"The Commission plans to cut emissions by just 1 percent a year until 2030, and then just 5 percent a year after that," said Jos Digs of the group Transport & Environment.

Digs said putting off action and relying on future technological breakthroughs was "a completely flawed strategy."