This paper presents a methodology for the assessment of the external costs of air pollution caused by road traffic in the Brussels urban area. The economic evaluation of the environmental impact of road traffic is of great interest in the assessment of the actual situation and the measurement of the possible effects of alternative policies in favour of a more sustainable transport system in the Belgian capital. The general approach follows the sequence: human activity - emissions - concentrations - physical impact - external costs. The methodology developed in terms of this sequence consists of three specific modules. Of these, the first module involves the assessment of air pollutant emissions from road traffic and indoor heating, which are the main urban sources of pollution. Three pollutants - nitrogen oxides, particles and sulphur dioxide - are considered. The second module establishes the relationship between previously calculated emissions and the concentrations of pollutants in the surrounding atmosphere. This process uses an empirical model based on a hybrid statistical-deterministic distribution. The model is designed in the form of a statistical relation between the economic, meteorological and environmental variables given in the form of daily data series. The third module assesses the damage in physical and monetary terms on the basis of suitable exposure-response functions provided mainly by the ExternE project of DG XII. The principal effects covered by the evaluation involve the impact on public health and damage to buildings. The external costs caused by road traffic in the Brussels-Capital Region have been calculated for the reference year 1996. The results are discussed and the possible benefits of policy options in favour of sustainable transport are also presented. (A)
Abstract