Transport and economic trends in Europe and EU policy statements on decoupling are examined. Possible approaches and strategies for decoupling are then presented, together with a discussion of how these measures might help to decouple transport growth and economic growth. The EU policy options likely to assist decoupling include pricing (option A), pricing and efficiency increases (option B), and pricing, promotion of alternative modes and targeted investment in the Trans European networks (option C). These policy options forecast a reduction in vehicle kilometres (both passenger and freight) and the subsequent reductions in carbon dioxide emissions without the need to restrict the mobility of people and goods. It is suggested that ways to substantially reduce passenger kilometres and freight kilometres will be needed if absolute levels of decoupling are to be achieved. Other transport policy instruments include regulation of e-commerce, land use planning policies, macro-economic policies, traffic control policies, and dematerialisation/organisational policies. It is considered that while there are a number of strategies which are likely to help the decoupling process, there are a number of factors hindering it, such as the specialisation of firms, globalisation of the economy, decreasing household size, reduced sharing of transport and increased consumption of consumer durables. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124693.
Abstract