Sustainability in transport - Implications for policy makers

This paper draws on a review prepared for the meeting of the European Conference of Ministers of Tran sport in May 2006. Four separate studies were considered: reducing CO2 emissions from transport, accessibility for those with reduced mobility, implementation of sustainable urban travel policies, and road safety. The purpose of this paper is to draw together the common strands related to sustainable transport and to make recommendations for ministers and their advisers. In doing so, it concentrates on the barriers to achieving sustainability and the ways in which they might be overcome. The paper starts by considering definitions of sustainability and the underlying objectives that governments might pursue. It then considers the varying contexts within which these objectives might be pursued. It reviews the policy instruments that might be employed in achieving these objectives and reviews the barriers to their introduction. Finally, it offers a series of recommendations to governments on ways of overcoming those barriers. The issues raised are of concern to international policy makers. To focus discussion, the questions for ministers in the original version have been recast as issues that policy makers may wish to consider in their own contexts.