Towards a more sustainable transport indicator : critical assessment of the modal split as an indicator for the EU Sustainability Strategy. Within the EU's Sustainability Strategy, indicator mechanisms have been specified to report on progress. With respect to environmental quality, six indicators have been agreed on, two of them transport-related: modal split and volume of transport relative to GDP. This paper presents the results of a study by CE, Delft, which has evaluated the EU's modal split indicator and proposes ways of improving the monitoring of sustainable transport trends in Europe. The most important conclusion is that policy to `reverse’ the modal shift in favour of rail and waterway transport may have very little if any environmental impact, and may even prove negative. The potential environmental impact of shifting freight from road to rail is very limited. The first reason is that in competing transport markets environmental differences between modes are relatively small. The second reason is that the competing markets eligible for modal shift are limited to the transport of large quantities of goods over long distances, especially more than several hundred kilometres. A more substantial reduction of these impacts can be achieved by improving the environmental performance of each individual mode. Alternatives to the modal split indicator are indicators that are directly related to the environmental impact of transport. (Author/publisher)
Abstract