TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
OECD International Conference, Vancouver Canada

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Session 3b - New and Emerging Policy Initiatives

Abstract of address by Axel Friedrich

Plan of Action on Environment and Transportation - A Holistic Approach

The aim of the Plan of Action on Environment and Transportation is to compile the measures for reducing traffic-related environmental impacts that have been proposed and discussed over the past few years, combine them into sets and evaluate them with respect to: effectiveness in reducing environmental impacts; associated time periods and; acceptance and social and economic impacts. Using this as a basis, a Program of Action is to be developed containing steps that are to lead to environmentally sustainable transport patterns.

The starting point for the Plan of Action is the derivation of traffic-related targets for the areas of climate protection, carcinogenic air pollutants, summer smog, damage to forests, acidification of soil and waters, noise, waste and waste management, land and nature conservation, and improvement of the quality of residential and urban life.

Required reductions in CO2 and air pollutants emissions can be derived from the targets set. Different scenarios are used to demonstrate possible ways to influence emissions of CO2, air pollutants and noise. Based on this work and the results of the evaluation, measures necessary to reduce traffic-related environmental impacts are derived and combined into sets. With respect to the set of measures aimed at climate protection, for example, the following measures were found to be of greatest importance:

• fuel consumption limits for passenger cars and other motor vehicles;
• gradual increase in the mineral oil tax.

An assessment as to whether such sets of measures not only provide effective protection of human health and the environment but also ensure environmentally sustainable development in the transport sector, in an all-encompassing sense, can not be made until a concrete definition of such conditions has been established with the aid of indicators.

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