Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Mobility - Transport Research ...

3. Policy contextThe impact of transport on the environment has become fundamental to the developmentof European transport policy and has been considered in various policy documents suchas the White Paper “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide” and the “Mid-termReview of the European Commission’s 2001 White Paper on Transport”.The European Transport White Paper, “European Transport Policy for 2010: time todecide” states early on in its policy guidelines that “a modern transport system must besustainable from an economic and social as well as an environmental viewpoint”, thusaccording equal importance to environmental aspects alongside economic and socialaspects. In addition to the overarching role of environmental aspects in the drive forsustainability, they are also important in many of the White Paper’s more specificguidelines, one of which is concerned entirely with environmental aspects: “developingmedium and long-term environmental objectives for a sustainable transport system” (CEC,2001). The overall package of proposals put forward in the White Paper is designed to redirectthe common transport policy towards sustainability, but specific attention is drawn tothe need to tackle the following:• “The risk of congestion on the major arteries and regional imbalance;• the conditions for shifting the balance between modes;• the priority to be given to clearing bottlenecks;• the new place given to users, at the heart of transport policy; and• the need to manage the effects of transport globalisation” (CEC, 2001).It is noted that hard choices will need to be made between maintaining the status quo andmaking changes that will result in a sustainable system. In particular, new forms ofregulation will be needed to “channel future demand for mobility and to ensure that thewhole of Europe’s economy develops in a sustainable fashion” (CEC, 2001). However,with regard to existing regulations, it is noted that international agreements are oftenfocused on facilitating trade and commerce, rather than environmental protection. Thus,insufficient account is currently taken of environmental protection, and the associatedsecurity of supply concerns (CEC, 2001).With this in mind, environmental considerations need to be integrated into Communitypolicies (CEC, 2001). In 1999, the Transport Council highlighted five areas in whichmeasures should be pursued: “(i) growth in CO 2 emissions from transport, (ii) pollutantemissions and their effects on health, (iii) anticipated growth in transport, in particular dueto enlargement, (iv) modal distribution and its development, and (v) noise in transport”(CEC, 2001). There appears to be a bias here in favour of environmental aspectsThematic Research Summary: “Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Mobility” Page: 15 of 48Transport Research Knowledge Centre