| Front page | | Contents | | Previous | | Next |

Integration of Environmental Considerations at Different Levels of
Decision Making

Annex C: Transport sector

The transport sector encompasses all those involved in the movement of goods and people. This includes both public and private transport and the different modes for passenger and freight. The definition can also be extended to include manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of cars, aeroplanes and other vehicles, and the construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure.

The transport sector is mainly demand driven, as influenced by economic growth and transport pricing. The long standing trend for rising demand shows no sign of changing and is reflected in an increase, with few exceptions, in the environmental problems associated with the sector.

The seemingly irreversible growth of passenger and freight transport demand poses the biggest challenge to the European and national government’s attempts to reduce transport’s environmental impacts. At the EU level passenger transport is expected to grow by 30% between 1995 and 2010, and the current patterns of growth favouring air and road are expected to continue. Freight transport is expected to grow by around 50% between 1994 and 2010, mainly due to an increase in international movements. Overall at the EU level road transport is expected to grow by 50%, rail by 55% (¹) .

Road transport is also the dominant mode in Denmark; a situation that is unlikely to change in the near future in line with economic development. Denmark has a well developed road network including 71,000 km of public roads, of which 880 km are motorways (²) . The rail network is also well developed, in total there are 2,349 km serving almost all towns with a population greater than 10,000.

At the macro level the key government actor is the Ministry of Transport. DEPA has some responsibilities for the transport sector, such as environmental licensing of air transport and ferries and provides input to the Ministry of Transport on environmental aspects of transport. The Spatial Planning Department within the Ministry of Environment and Energy is responsible for spatial planning at the national level including certain aspects of transport infrastructure planning.

Spatial planning at the regional level and county roads are the responsibility of the Counties. The Municipalities are responsible for municipal and local planning, including traffic planning, local safety and roads.

The state is also the main provider of public transport services. The Counties are responsible for most regional and local public services but Municipalities also play a role. In addition, the state provides substantial financial support for private transport providers.

Micro level market based actors consist of transport users and providers. Transport users include both individuals and businesses. In terms of individual users the old, disabled and those living outside major cities without good public transport provision are particular areas of concern for access to mobility.

The micro level also incorporates vehicle manufacturers however there is no such sub-sector in Denmark since all cars are imported. The passenger car fleet is slightly smaller than in neighbouring countries due to the high purchase tax placed on cars. Despite this and the provision of an efficient public transport system in larger towns, car travel is still the most common form of travel, accounting for 63,500 million passenger kms compared to 1,000 by bus and 4,900 by rail in 1996. Likewise, in the business sector, national goods transport is almost exclusively undertaken by lorry (greater than 75% volume). By 2005, passenger traffic is expected to rise by 25% and goods transport by 40% in line with estimates of economic growth.

C.1.2 Key Environmental Issues

The main drivers within the transport sector are:

	economic growth including rising income levels, increased private car ownership and goods production and distribution;
	individual transport behaviour due to changing lifestyle patterns such as longer commuting distances, greater travel in leisure time, greater reliance on road transport due to the poor perception of public transport;
	decreasing cost of transport in absolute and relative terms, in particular decreased cost of road transport compared to public transport; and
	changing logistic patterns eg ‘just in time deliveries’, all year round supply of goods.

As a result, transport volumes and related impacts are on the increase. The key environmental problems linked to transport are: contribution to global climate change, adverse impacts on air quality, ozone levels and acidification; significant consumption of energy and other resources; a major contribution to Europe’s waste streams through the disposal of vehicles, batteries etc.; noise pollution and health impacts; threats to biodiversity, fragmentation of landscapes and consumption of raw materials linked to the construction and maintenance of infrastructure.

The fall in lead emissions from road transport (70% since 1990) is perhaps the best example of successful intervention to address environmental impacts. However the overwhelming majority of negative trends (eg CO₂ emissions, local impacts of infrastructure on land and biodiversity, energy consumption) are on the increase as a result of continuing growth in traffic volume. The transport sector accounts for 20% of Danish energy consumption and 20% of CO₂ emissions.

The decision flow analysis in Section C1.4 focuses on two interrelated decisions:

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from transport use by household and businesses Reducing transport demand

The two decisions have been addressed as one since reduction of transport demand is an integral measure for reduction of greenhouse gases.

1. The EU and the Member States have developed policies that attempt to address some of the key impacts of the transport sector, as well as some of their causes. The action programme "Sustainable Mobility: Perspectives for the Future" adopted December 1, 1998, by the Commission, sets out the initiatives it intends to encourage the development of efficient and environmentally friendly transport systems that are safe and socially acceptable (so called ‘sustainable mobility’).
2. The action programme includes, as priorities up to 2004, initiatives to strengthen its environmental assessments of policy initiatives with important environmental effects, especially in light of CO₂ emissions and climatic change. The Commission will also support the Council of Ministers in setting up a strategy for the integration of environmental issues into transport systems. It should however be noted that, although some progress has been made over the past years in the framework of the common transport policy, overall this has been slower than expected (for example, plans to increase the transport of freight by rail).
3. An overview of the principal initiatives to integrate environmental concerns into the sector was presented by the Transport Council at the Vienna European Council (December 1998) which identified transport pricing and environmental costs, the revitalisation of rail transport and the promotion of inland waterways, maritime transport and combined transport as priority issues requiring action. In October 1999 the Council adopted a Transport Strategy for short-term action (1999-2001) which recognised transport demand management, climate change implications and better coordination of inter-modal transport as critical issues for integration.
4. Most EU countries have so far focused on addressing the more prominent environmental impacts (especially air and noise pollution) associated with transport while some (eg Sweden and the Netherlands) have started to look at mechanisms for promoting public transport and shift from road to rail. Several others have begun to address issues of efficiency (e.g. energy efficiency, cleaner fuels, vehicle occupancy, load factors for freight), but almost none have yet started to address the complex issue of promoting access through integrated land-use and transport planning, with a final aim to reduce demand for mobility.

C.1.3.2 Danish Context

The 1990 White Paper ‘Transport Action Plan’ forms the basis for Danish transport policy. The main driver for future development of the sector is viewed as continued operation of an efficient and flexible transport infrastructure, and at the same time attaining the objective of sustainable transport. The White Paper established environmental goals for transport, including a target for stabilisation of total transport CO₂ emissions at the 1988 level by the year 2005, and a 25% reduction by the year 2030.

In response to the White Paper, the Government developed a traffic plan ‘Traffik 2000’ setting out public works and investments to the year 2005. The plan addresses three main areas :

	a traditional transport policy;
	environmental, energy and road safety issues;
	investments.

Within this framework, five main strategies are defined for future development of the sector:

	influencing the volume of traffic and transport tasks as well as the distribution of modes of transport;
	promoting alternatives to car transport;
	curbing environmental problems;
	setting new priorities for traffic investment; and
	upgrading traffic planning and research.

This is the first time that addressing transport demand has been included as an explicit transport policy objective. This is particularly important for achieving the CO₂ emissions reduction target for the sector.

Taxes are a key tool for regulating transport demand in Denmark. In comparison to the rest of Europe, Denmark imposes high taxes on the purchase of passenger cars (up to 200%). Fuel taxes have been gradually increased since 1994 and are expected to increase further to 2005 to achieve the CO₂ emissions reduction target.

The Government has endorsed the EU scheme for road charging for heavy commercial vehicles on certain roads, as established by the ‘Eurovignette’ Directive. An agreement will be signed between Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg concerning regional co-operation to establish common payment of road-user charges in all five countries.

Options for goods transport include the promotion of railway and sea freight including combined transport. However, the scope for national transportation of goods by non-road freight is limited due to the nature of demand (distances are generally short ; 60% of goods consignment volumes are hauled less than 50km and only 20% more than 100 km). The most likely transfer of goods transport will be from road to railway, based on promotion and support of railway services in areas where it will be most competitive such as long distance goods transport. The rail system will also be developed for high speed passenger transport over medium to long distances and in metropolitan areas.

Government funding to support development of a sustainable transport system is focused on several areas:

	subsidies for experiments with alternative forms of public transport;
	investment grants for the promotion of environmentally sound bus technology;
	funds to address specific traffic and the related environmental problems in urban areas; and
	support of public transport services for the disabled.

Another focus of transport policy is the establishment of fixed, land based transport links across the Great Belt and the Sound, to link different areas within Denmark, and Denmark to its neighbours.

C.1.4 Decision Flow Analysis

Decision flow analyses for the transport sector for households and businesses in relation to climate change are presented in Tables 1.1 - 1.3 Traffic volume is also a major problem for the sector but has not been dealt with as a separate issue since demand management is an integral part of measures to address the climate change issue.

The decisions made by households and businesses, both in terms of passenger and goods transport, are generally the same for both actors:

	Is the journey necessary?
	If yes, what mode of transport should be chosen?
	If road transport is to be used, what make and model of vehicle should be purchased for personal use or for a company fleet?
	Finally, how should the vehicle be driven in terms of speed and technique?

The key parameter for determining whether individual transport is necessary either for personal or businesses travel is the availability of alternatives to travel, currently largely determined by telecommunications technology for teleworking and the recent development of e-commerce facilities. Land use and urban planning also play a role in supporting mixed and high density development that reduce the need to travel long distances. For businesses involved in the transport of goods, the availability of resources and demands for supply arising from the transport of goods is also a key parameter. This will reflect the efficiency of production processes, logistics and the distances involved and will be largely influenced by costs.