Climate Conference Targets Will Lead to New Era of Transport Demand Management

(Transport Intelligence – John Manners-Bell)

What is being billed as the largest and most important UN climate change conference in history has opened in Copenhagen, with diplomats from 192 nations warning that this could be the last chance for a deal to protect the world from global warming.

The transport industry, as a major contributor of greenhouse gases, will be under considerable pressure to reduce its emissions. Although much has been done, progress has been considered too slow if the EU is to meet existing overall greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by 2020. If the EU commits to further reductions at Copenhagen, governments will have to find new ways in which to constrain transport demand. […]

The EC has already stated that emissions from the transport sector will be subject to binding targets at Member State level including the use of biofuels. However it has concluded that existing targets can only be met by a reduction of total transport demand (passenger and freight). This could be through pricing measures or other types of ‘demand management tools’. Read more here.