Transport Working Group

Transport plays an integral role in the life of people living in the Alps. It is crucial to the region’s economy and to flows of people and goods beyond the Alps. However, it is the only sector with increasing CO₂ emissions and its impacts include air pollution, noise pollution, land-use, and the fragmentation of ecological habitats, all of which are intensified by the distinct topography of the Alps.

The Transport Working Group was established to elaborate and negotiate the Transport Protocol, adopted in 2000. Since then, the group meets regularly to ensure cooperation between Alpine countries on the development and enactment of sustainable transport measures.

The first objective of the Transport Protocol is "to pursue a sustainable transport policy which will reduce the negative effects of and risks posed by intra-Alpine and transalpine transport to a level which is not harmful to people, flora and fauna and their environments and habitats” (art. 1 (a)).

Previous areas of work of the Working Group have been the analysis of daily mobility in the Alps after COVID-19 and the application of the EuroVignette Directive in the Alpine perimeter. In its 2025-26 mandate, the group focuses on the Alpine cycling network, vertical public transport systems, the decarbonisation of freight and logistics, and sustainable tourism mobility, always taking the specificity of the Alpine region into account.