Reduction of Environmental Pressure from Car Transport - Extended Summary

Chapter 5: Roles of the Authorities and other Operators

A need for efforts by many operators

Adjusting to the factor 4/10 situation cannot be expected to happen automatically but will require a substantial effort from a large number of social operators, including authorities at all levels.

Roles and possibilities of the authorities

The possibilities available to the authorities of influencing the development is linked, i.a., with a number of policy instruments which can take the form of more specific measures addressed to the operators who have influence on the environmental impact of transport.

Barriers to restructuring

On the other hand, it is not realistic to imagine that the factor 4/10 situation is something that can simply be "introduced" by the authorities adopting various measures. In fact, there will be considerable barriers to the realisation of the objective.

Barriers can occur, for example, in the form of established social and economic structures that tend to preserve the existing patterns; opposite trends that pull the development in a different direction; or the presence of other interests and targets on the part of the operators that may conflict with the factor 4/10 target.

Dynamic barriers

The barriers are not merely static structures that can be "eliminated" by an adequate regulatory effort. They may represent social mechanisms or dynamic aspects that may more persistently counteract a given strategy.

These may include; e.g.:

	economic dynamic aspects, such as when improved efficiency of technology leads to an increased demand for transport;
	social dynamic aspects, such as when attempts to develop new norms lead to counter-reactions in the form of ritualisation of the "undesired conduct"; and
	institutional dynamic aspects, such as when the operators who are subjected to regulation have access to control the information necessary for the regulation.

Conversely, it is reasonable to assume that is is also possible to create positive dynamic aspects that may be instrumental in generating changes in the direction of the factor 4/10 targets.

Possible measures to reach the targets

A number of possible measures are examined which the authorities might consider to promote the readjustment towards the factor 4/10 situation. The measures include "top-down" control measures within the transport sector, "bottom-up" oriented measures, as well as general measures outside the sector. For each measure the positive and negative consequences are discussed, as well as the possible barriers and operators. The outlined measures include:

	Taxes and charges on fossil fuels;
	standards for the emission of CO2, etc., by motorcars;
	standards for the motorcars' consumption of materials and prospects of re-use;
	expansion in the form of sophisticated collective transport; etc.;
	an end to the expansion of the highway network ("zero road vision");
	localisation policies;
	tax regulations in relation to transport and localisation;
	experiments with new transport forms and structures; and
	general measures, including the dissemination of sustainable energy sources, general shifts in taxation (e.g., in the form of an "ecological tax reform"), and increased transparency of environmental consequences in decisions.

Impossible to specify and rank the measures

It is true of all the measures that they hold advantages as well as limitations as regards the prospects of achieving the factor 4/10 targets in practice. None of them are without

certain drawbacks, related to e.g. costs, uncertainty or acceptability. In this context it is not possible to rank the measures, to estimate the extent to which they will be capable of achieving the relevant targets, or to specify the doses and combinations in which they may have to be applied.

Combinations

It is certain, however, that there will be a need to combine measures which, between them, can initiate readjustment on a wide front within the most important structures that support the current trend.

If long-term readjustment is to be achieved, it is essential that there can be a development in people's preferences which supports the targets. Changes of this type cannot be forced through from the top down. Therefore, one must visualise a readjustment in several phases. Thus, the following types of measure could conceivably be launched during the first phase:

Different types of measures necessary

1. Measures which curb the current growth in transport and environmental impact, including

	reduction and readjustment of infrastructure expansions;
	technical agreements / demands for means of transportation and their consumption of energy; and
	a curb on inappropriate localisation decisions.

2. Measures which prepare the soil for changes in the trends, such as

	increased communication regarding environmental problems and consequences;
	attempts and experiments with new forms of transport and lifestyles;
	research into new types of material, etc.; and
	analyses of possible long-term strategies.

3. Measures that pave the way for long-term readjustment

	continued expansion and conversion to sustainable energy sources;
	a shift in taxation so that environmental targets are – to an increasing extent – incorporated into the basis of taxation; and
	incorporation of environmental targets and considerations into other decision contexts (economic policy, etc.).

In a subsequent phase (say, after ten years) it is reasonable to assume that conditions may have been created by these measures that make it possible to initiate more radical readjustment.