The aim of this paper is to develop some thoughts on the question of identifying the maximum allowable pollution share by the transport sector, assuming a critical level of maximum resource use, a maximum carrying capacity, a maximum environmental utilisation space, a maximum sustainable yield or some other critical threshold level for environmental decay. The paper uses here the notion of Maximum Environmental Capacity Use (MECU) to indicate the maximum resource use of a given environmental stock that, in a given time period, is compatible with both socio-economic objectives and environmental conditions now and in the future. It seeks to answer the question whether at the sectoral level, namely that of the Transport the sectoral level, namely that of the Transport System, the idea of a transport-specific MECU, denoted here as MECUTS, can be operationalized. It looks in particular at alternative new possibilities, with particular economic background, to control pollution emission in the transport sector.
Abstract