The sustainability outlook : can sustainability be explored ? The Dutch national sustainability outlook is based on four story lines with strongly differing visions on the transport sector, preferences, values and world views of the population and entrepreneurs and policy objectives and strategies of authorities. The story lines are mainly used to identify risks and dilemmas related to sustainability, not to quantify transport developments in detail. The outlook demonstrates that there is no quick technological fix for environmental problems caused by the transport sector. Risks are introduced when in story lines where only ‘efficiency’ or ‘equity’ criteria are used in the decision making process. The implementation of a mix of policy instruments, comprising pricing policies, investments in road and rail infrastructure, sharpening emission standards and stimulating R&D at an international level, can be seen as a sustainable transport policy strategy, which enables transport growth within ecological and social equity objectives. (Author/publisher)
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