sectoral economic costs and benefits of ghg mitigation - IPCC

Seth Dunn
year. In addition to adding unnecessary GHG emissions, this translates into an annual cost of $74
billion in wasted fuel and lost productivity. Interestingly, regions that invest heavily in road
construction perform no better in restricting congestion than those that invest less in roads.
A number of American cities are, however, starting to address development patterns that
encourage automobile dependence. Their policies include regulations and incentives to lower
vehicle emissions, give greater priority to bicycling and rail, and encourage developers to build
on vacant land within the city rather than in outer green regions.
The U.S. city with the most progress in stemming sprawl is Portland, Oregon. Under a 1973 state
law, an urban growth boundary prevents the city from encroaching onto farm and forest land.
Planners are now requiring most new building to take place within a short walk of a public transit
stop. Revised zoning codes permit the mixed-use development of apartments above stores and
more dense types of housing - townhouses and apartment buildings - that are capable of
supporting public transit systems. The greater urban density that results from integrated transport
planning, in addition to reducing automobile dependence and its accompanying GHG emissions,
can also make for more aesthetically pleasing cities, as European cities such as Paris and Vienna
demonstrate: another “local-global synergy.”
4 Imposing Savings, Not Costs
Opponents of public policies to address transport-related externalities often create the false
perception that the existing system is a perfectly-operating one, and that any additional steps will
therefore “impose costs.” A more accurate description, however, is that many transport systems
contain substantial hidden costs and inefficiencies that, through careful policies, can be
mitigated. Such steps, in fact, “impose savings” both economic and environmental, lowering
energy costs and GHG emissions.
A 1999 study prepared by the Tellus Institute for the World Wildlife Fund supports this
alternative view. Modeling the economic impacts of a package of integrated policies and
measures targeted at specific sectors to promote the use of high-efficiency, low-carbon
technologies, the report suggests that U.S. carbon emissions can be reduced by 20 percent below
1990 levels by 2010, with net annual savings of over $40 billion per year and 900,000 net
additional jobs created by then. Contrary to claims that the transportation sector cannot
contribute significantly to near-term reductions, all sectors make meaningful reductions in this
scenario.
In the 20 percent reduction scenario, the transport sector achieves carbon savings of more than
200 million tons in 2010 (See Table 5). Specific steps taken in the transport sector include a
vehicle efficiency initiative, with progressively stronger fuel economy standards for cars and
sport utility vehicles; R&D for improved design, materials, and technologies; public sector
market creation programs for cleaner and more efficient vehicles; and standards and incentives
for freight trucks and other commercial modes. They also include urban and regional
transportation demand management and other incentives: pricing reforms, such as congestion and
emissions-based pricing; land-use and infrastructure planing for improved access to alternative
and complementary travel modes, including transit, walking, and biking; facilitation of high
speed intercity rail development; and pricing, planning, and informational initiatives to promote
intermodal freight movement. Finally, they involve a cap on the carbon intensity of motor
vehicles, progressively strengthened to 10 percent by 2010; R&D for renewable fuels and
associated vehicle technologies; and renewable fuels commercialization programs in a variety of
market segments, including public sector procurement.
189