UK Climate Change Programme 2006 - JNCC - Defra

70
Transport
43. Other aspects of transport policy can help
support and reinforce the measures described
above. These include using technology to enable
the improved management of transport
networks and to help manage demand. For
instance in some local authority areas
sophisticated real time information and traffic
management systems are being used to provide
bus priority at traffic signals and information for
real-time passenger information displays.
Transport information services, such as Transport
Direct, can also help to encourage a move to
more environmentally friendly means of transport
by offering information on different forms of
transport, and helping travellers to make betterinformed
travel decisions.
achieved occur within the surface transport sector
itself, the impact on carbon prices and the impact
on UK competitiveness.
46. Drawing on the work we have already
carried out, we will engage with key
stakeholders, the European Commission and
other EU member states to help develop a
robust evidence base on the costs and
benefits of including surface transport in CO 2
emissions trading at an EU level. We will also
continue to investigate the desirability of
introducing surface transport CO 2
emissions
trading at a UK level, either as preparation
for EU-wide adoption or as a self-standing
measure.
44. Demand management on the road network can
include anything from relatively simple parking
measures to sophisticated road pricing schemes.
The Government is examining how pricing could
be used to address congestion in areas where it is
a problem today or soon will be. It is also
committed to using pricing in these areas in ways
that allow piloting of technology for a national
scheme in the longer term. Complementary public
transport and travel information, together with
pricing, can form an overall transport solution to
make a town or city a better place to live and
work. The Government is prepared to invest up to
£200m per annum between 2008/09 and
2014/15 from the Transport Innovation Fund to
support schemes involving road pricing, if suitable
packages are developed by local authorities.
Aviation
47. At present, the emissions from international
aviation are not included either in the Kyoto
Protocol target, or the domestic carbon dioxide
goal, as there is no international agreement yet
on allocating these emissions to national
greenhouse gas inventories. We are continuing to
pursue such agreement with a view to their
inclusion within any future international climate
change regime. The Air Transport White Paper,
published in December 2003, acknowledged the
growing contribution that aviation emissions are
making towards climate change and recognised
the need for the aviation sector to take its share
of responsibility for tackling the problem of
climate change.
Emissions trading schemes
45. The Government has been examining the scope
for including surface transport in CO 2
emissions
trading mechanisms. Whilst the results of our
work suggest this could be a means of delivering
carbon reductions at relatively low cost, there are
many issues to be addressed before a definitive
view can be taken about the desirability of
including surface transport in emissions trading.
These issues include the route for
implementation, the regulatory burden on current
and future participants, whether carbon savings