PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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This online refusal to consider strategies to reduce the volume of transport is not
only out of touch with much state-of-the-art thinking on sustainable transport as
presented in this chapter, it also flies in the face of the EU’s current pursued goal to
decouple transport growth from economic growth in general, most publicly stated at the
Gothenburg summit. The analogy presented here remains stuck in old thinking schemes
that regard any reduction in transport volumes as an impediment to growth.
5.3.10 Pan-European Declarations on Sustainable Transport
Outside of official EU documents, EU Transport Ministers, as well as their CEE
counterparts, made rhetorical commitments to sustainable transport in two key Pan-
European documents. For one, the 1997 UN-ECE Regional Conference on Transport and
the Environment resulted in the “Vienna Declaration on Transport and the Environment.”
The document reaffirms both the Rio declaration and recent European initiatives (United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe 1997). 13
Secondly, the June 1999 WHO
Conference Transport, Environment and Health resulted in an ambitious Charter signed
by European health, environment and transport ministers, together with the relevant
13 The declaration recalls the importance of the Sustainable Transportation Principles developed at the 1996
OECD conference in Vancouver, urges remaining states to ratify the Convention on Long-Range
Transboundary Air Pollution and the related protocols, and draws attention to increasing pollution from air
and maritime transport. The declaration also encourages phasing-out leaded fuels and considers providing
ECE member countries in transition with appropriate assistance in restructuring the vehicle and oil-refining
industries. It refers to the ESPOO convention in encouraging more effective environmental impact
assessment of transport infrastructure projects in transboundary contexts and calls for further development
of SEA methodologies. It also promotes several more radical measures such as the establishment of
national environmental and health targets in the transport sector within national strategies, dedicated cycle
networks, and road pricing. Yet it also cautiously warns that “the different geographic and economic
circumstances of [UN-ECE] member states may necessitate differentiated approaches and flexibility of
choice within that framework [of sustainable development]” and therefore recognizes “the special
circumstances and priority needs of ECE member countries in transition” [para (g) and (n)]. The annex to
the declaration contained a detailed Programme of Joint Action (POJA) in the fields of transport and
environment, listing possible measures and solutions at the international and national level. Also note that
in July 2002, UN ECE, in collaboration with the WHO, launched the “Transport, Health and Environment
Pan-European Programme (THE PEP).” Also see http://www.unece.org/poja/