Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Mobility - Transport Research ...

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models to determine particulate emissions levels for a city as a whole). CBA has beenused to determine the most cost effective ways of reducing such emissions (EVALUATIONOF OPTIONS FOR REDUCING IRISH DIESEL PARTICULATE EMISSIONS).Evaluation of external costsResearch using the assessment methodologies and tools developed and tested in EUresearch projects has provided an initial quantification of the impacts of TEN transportprojects as well as demonstrating the feasibility of SEA methods. The TEN transportprojects are projected to increase overall passenger and freight travel demand, but with asubstantial shift to rail and a reduction in road network congestion. Road vehicle emissions(other than CO 2 ) will fall, while the air sector will see substantial increases in totalemissions. The projects are estimated to reduce CO 2 emissions relative to a do-nothingscenario, and to improve transport safety (COMMUTE, 2000).Swiss research has resulted in estimation of monetary values for many of the externalcosts of transport. The project investigating the external health costs of airborne pollutantshas found that these costs are highly significant, with by far the largest proportion of beingattributable to the intangible costs of premature death or years of life lost. Chronicbronchitis among adults is the next largest cost, with all other health outcomes being farless costly to society. The corresponding study into noise costs has found that the externalcosts of (road and rail) transport noise amount to some 0.25% of national GDP, with some88% of this attributable to reduced house rental values and 12% down to various healthcosts associated with noise. A similar study into building damage caused by transportfound that by far the largest impact was caused by air pollution, with over 90% of thisemanating from road traffic (mostly in urban areas) and much smaller effects from rail andair transport. Research on environment and landscape, focusing on the impacts oftransport on natural habitats, has found significant external costs of transport, of whichsome 86% is caused by the road infrastructure (with 37% caused by motorways and mainroads alone) and around 14% caused by the rail infrastructure (FAIR AND EFFICIENTPRICES FOR TRANSPORTATION).Additional Swiss research has studied the regional impacts of such external costs and howthey might be internalised. The study found that the costs of transport not covered bytransport-related taxes can differ very significantly between the various regions ofSwitzerland, with mountain regions suffering more than the central regions fromenvironmental damage and particularly from the expected global warming and damage toforests. Urban areas also suffer high costs, because of high air pollution and other factors(D4 NRP41 EXTERNAL COSTS AND INTERNALISATION – REGIONAL IMPACTS).Danish research into policy and project appraisal at regional level has similarly found majordifferences in external costs from region to region (INTEGRATED TRAFFIC, REGIONALECONOMIC AND IMPACT MODELS).Thematic Research Summary: “Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Mobility” Page: 26 of 48Transport Research Knowledge Centre
Research in Ireland into strategies for reducing diesel particulate emissions has estimatedthat in 2003 over 3000 tonnes of diesel particulate matter was emitted nationally by thefleet of some half a million diesel vehicles. The majority of these emissions occurred inurban areas and from light goods vehicles (responsible for 60% of all emissions). Oldervehicles with EURO1 or older engines were responsible for some 55% of these emissions.These issues suggest that emissions reduction strategies can be broadly grouped underthe categories of technological improvements to vehicles, use of cleaner fuels, betterinspection and maintenance programmes and better fleet management. Such researchhas also highlighted the danger of focusing particulate emission reduction strategies onreducing the total mass of emissions, without sufficient attention to the most damagingvolatile matter (EVALUATION OF OPTIONS FOR REDUCING IRISH DIESELPARTICULATE EMISSIONS).4.2.4 Policy implicationsPolicy implications stemming from this sub-theme relate primarily to the valuation ofenvironmental impacts. Research findings confirm that the external costs of transportactivity in terms of environmental impact are high, and this lends support to EU policypriorities to reduce such costs through the development of improved technologies, relevantnew transport investments (including the TEN investments) and the internalisation ofexternal costs to influence transport use and travel behaviour. Application ofenvironmental impact assessment methodologies has demonstrated that whilst the TENinvestments will lead to an overall increase in passenger and freight travel demand, therewill also be a substantial shift to rail and a reduction in road congestion and improvementin road safety, all current policy priority areas. As a result, road vehicle emissions (otherthan CO 2 ) will fall. Whilst the TEN investments will reduce CO 2 emissions relative to a donothingscenario, there will be substantial increases in emissions from the air transportwhich will need to be addressed (COMMUTE, 2000).There are many uncertainties attached to the monetarisation of environmental impacts,such that prioritisation of action can be difficult. However, many policies offer the benefit ofreducing several different impacts at the same time. An integrated unified approach toreducing environmental impact, applying packages of relevant measures, may be the wayforward (RESEARCH OF ENVIRONMENTAL BURDEN OF TRANSPORTATION; D4NRP41 EXTERNAL COSTS AND INTERNALISATION – REGIONAL IMPACTS).The regional dimension is important in many parts of Europe, and it has been shown thatenvironmental impacts can vary significantly from region to region, even within individualEuropean countries. Policy formulation therefore needs to take regional impacts intoconsideration (POLICY AND PROJECT APPRAISAL AT REGIONAL LEVEL).Thematic Research Summary: “Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Mobility” Page: 27 of 48Transport Research Knowledge Centre
Page 1 and 2: ENVIRONMENTALASPECTS OFSUSTAINABLEM
Page 3 and 4: European CommissionDG Energy and Tr
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Page 7 and 8: ForewordThis paper has been produce
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Page 13 and 14: 2. Scope of the theme “Environmen
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Page 19 and 20: 4. Research findings4.1 Introductio
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Page 45 and 46: ECOICAROInformation inEuropeanPorts
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