The annual Autofestival started this Monday, 23 January, with its deluge of advertisements and good deals… good for your personal finances perhaps, but certainly not for the planet. The consequences of Luxembourg’s car-centric traffic infrastructure are disastrous and the country needs drastic changes if it wants to reach its climate objectives.

The latest figures published by Eurostat show that , making it the worst performer in Europe. The rest comes from fossil fuels, mostly consumed by the transport sector.

This can certainly be attributed in part to the lower fuel prices in the grand duchy, but it is even more striking to examine the average age of the country’s motor vehicles. Some 22% of registered cars on Luxembourg's roads are at most two years old, a European record.

As if that wasn’t enough, let's add the fact that Luxembourg is the European frontrunner with the highest number of cars per capita (). The consequences are real: the disproportionate number of vehicles leads to pollution and traffic jams, too often resulting in an expansion of the road network and permanent sealing of the soil. An infernal cycle that is not satisfying to anyone.

Make no mistake, we need to reach a collective understanding that overconsumption will lead to the destruction of the biosphere. In that sense, regularly buying new, high-powered gas guzzling-vehicles is not a step in the right direction. But it is of course only collectively as a society, that we can find solutions.

One of these could be a progressive increase of taxes on fossil fuels whilst compensating the most disadvantaged households. We could also think about putting an end to car advertisements that sell us freedom, whilst in practice causing ever increasing traffic jams which are poisoning us more and more.

And finally, the most polluting vehicles need to be taxed, thus providing funds to undo the extensive damage already done to the ecological systems underlying our very existence. What good will the newest, shiniest, fastest car be when we are faced with the ever-increasing ravages of heatwaves, droughts or storms? Is that the kind of freedom we want?

Greenpeace is determined to imagine the society of the future. This means exploring and questioning why people prefer motor vehicles over other more sustainable means of transportation. Is it a question of public transport availability? Or should we be developing and encouraging the use of other alternatives such as bicycles or reliable and convenient car-sharing schemes?

Mobility is a complex issue and there is no simple solution, but business as usual will lead us straight into a wall. Only by calling the current system into question and placing sustainability at the centre of the political debate will we be able to identify and implement concrete solutions that really work.