Sustainable Development Challenges in Transportation in European Countries during the Economic Crisis

The climate debate and action often focuses on energy and industrial activity as the key sectors contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. However, transportation, with its fast increasing rate of harmful emissions, should also be included in any holistic policy addressing climate change and sustainable development. This paper aims to perform a critical analysis on this sector at European level within three critical economic periods: 2008, 2010 and 2012. A cluster analysis will be employed. The first objective of the paper is to analyze the comparative migration of countries within the resulted clusters. The second objective is to find justifications regarding the remain in a performant cluster or the migration in a less performant cluster of certain countries. Last, but not least, based on the experience of EU countries, to propose measures and best practices for Romania and simmilar countries, so that in the future to occupy a place in a more performant cluster and increase their chances to achieve the objectives for the 2020 horizon, imposed by the EU.