Transport and Environment - Measures and POlicies

Thanks to the substantial purchase tax levied on new passenger cars, the Norwegian government has a quite powerful climate policy instrument at its hand. Continued application of this instrument may halve the greenhouse gas emissions from Norwegian cars within two or three decades. On account of the higher energy efficiency of electric motors compared to internal combustion engines, the total energy consumption of the Norwegian car fleet may decrease considerably, to the profit of society in general and consumers in particular. Six per cent of Norway's hydropower output would be sufficient to operate the entire passenger car fleet, if completely electrified. Public transport has an indispensable role to play in the daily life of urban citizens, but a fairly modest potential for greenhouse gas abatement. Even very ambitious packages combining reduced fares with improved level-of-service fail to achieve more than a few percentage points' reduction in CO2 emissions from travel. Improving the road network so as to allow for substantially higher speed will increase emission in the short as well as in the long run. Cars become more competitive, and as they speed, per kilometre emissions go up. Earmarking the environmental tax will enhance its public acceptability, and so will increased faith in the fairness and effectiveness of the tax measure. International and domestic air trips made by individuals resident in Norway account for at least as large a climate impact as their car travelling. Efficient corridors for freight trains may enhance the competitive edge and market share of the rail mode. As transports are transferred from road to rail, greenhouse gas emissions are cut to a fraction. It appears doubtful whether the mechanisms for greenhouse gas abatement are sufficiently integrated into the transport policy formation. A proposal to introduce a climate change act, to enforce and monitor climate policy initiatives, is pending in the Norwegian Parliament.

An effective, large scale decoupling between economic growth and environmental degradadtion must rest on at least three sets of conditions: (i) political commitment, (ii) technological shift, and (iii) behavioural change. Technological improvements are in dispensable, but not in themselves sufficient. Even the most sophisticated technologies will not solve the problem without implementation entailing behavioural change. Zero and low emission technologies will prevail only if individual market players, i e consumers and businesses, are made to prefer them. How can such a behavioural change be brought about in a market economy with consumer sovereignty and democratic political governance? Effective, eco-friendly transport solutions will vary from one soci ety to another. Using the Norwegian society as a case, and developing a catalogue of policy measures as applicable in Norway, TEMPO will provide transferable lessons, strategies, methodologies and subject-matter knowledge with a wide area of interest and use. These learnings will by summed up systematically in a catalogue of policy options, describing the most important measures and policy instruments by their feasibility and (cost-)effectiveness. TEMPO will be organized in five primary research tasks, the sixth being the synthesis and coordination of them all: 1. Quantification of the climate impacts of technological opportunities and structural shifts 2. Travel demand modelling 3. Field experiments and behavioural economics. 4. Decision support tool s for the greening of the freight transport sector. 5. Policy integration and implementation in view of institutional constraints and opportunities 6. Management, synthesis and dissemination