Sustainable Transportation

Prepared in connection with
Canada's participation at the meeting
of the United Nations Commission on
Sustainable Development
April 1997

by

Environment Canada
and
Transport Canada

1997
Ottawa, Canada

Contents

• Transport Trends in Canada and Elsewhere
• Responsibility for Transportation in Canada
• Recent Actions in Canada
• Canada's Involvement in International Activities

• Opportunities and Barriers
• Canada's Goals for the Special Session

Introduction

The motorized transportation of people and goods presents unique challenges for sustainable development. It causes or contributes to climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, spread of toxic organic and inorganic substances, local and regional air pollution including ground-level ozone (smog), acid rain, noise, depletion of oil and other natural resources, and damage to the landscape and soil. Worldwide, motorized transportation is responsible for up to 20 percent of the emissions from human activity that are resulting in climate change.

There is no widely accepted definition of sustainable transportation. One used by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) may be noted: "Transportation that does not endanger public health or ecosystems and meets mobility needs consistent with (a) use of renewable resources at below their rates of regeneration and (b) use of non-renewable resources at below the rates of development of renewable substitutes".

Transportation is one of the few sectors for which the trends are mostly in the wrong direction with respect to this kind of definition of sustainability. Attempts to reduce harmful emissions during the last two decades—through improvements in fuel quality, vehicle efficiency, and control of vehicle exhaust gases, and through the introduction of alternative fuels—have enjoyed considerable success, but they have been more than offset by increases in the number, use, and power of motor vehicles of various kinds. There are now more than 800 million road vehicles worldwide. The number of vehicles is growing almost everywhere at higher rates than both the human population and the GDP; road traffic grows even more quickly. The largest increases in motor vehicle use over the next several decades will likely occur in non-OECD countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Aviation is growing even more rapidly than road transport, while use of public transport systems (rail and bus), which are generally more environmentally benign, is declining in many countries.

The intractability of the transport sector has several causes. The most significant is the increasingly central importance of motorized transportation in the lives of the residents of many countries. They depend on extensive, complex systems for the movement of people and goods that could hardly be imagined a century ago.

Sustainable transportation is about meeting or helping meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Agenda 21 made several references to the environmental and social impacts of transportation.⁽¹⁾ However, despite transportation's profound relevance to the attainment of sustainable development, Agenda 21 did not contain a chapter on transportation and thus did not provide a comprehensive and integrated approach to the subject. Our capacity to meet many of the environmental objectives listed in Agenda 21 depends on our ability to properly address concerns related to transportation activities in OECD and other countries.

Canada's reports to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development have reflected growing concern about transportation. The 1996 report included a section entitled "The Challenge of Sustainable Transportation" and noted that the most significant challenge confronting Canadians may be that of making personal transportation more sustainable. The purpose of this monograph is to alert the United Nations General Assembly to the importance of developing a shared vision of sustainable transportation and to start building consensus on the broad direction to take.

Current Status

Transport Trends in Canada and Elsewhere

Environmental sustainability is more a global matter rather than a local one. The global impact of transport activity of greatest concern is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mostly a consequence of combustion of the oil that fuels more than 99 percent of transportation. Table 1 shows emissions of the major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from transportation and from other activities.

Canada's trends during the indicated period appear to be relatively favourable. There was an absolute decline in carbon dioxide emissions from transportation, compared with substantial increases in other OECD countries and in the rest of the world. However, Canada's per capita carbon dioxide emissions from transportation remain above the OECD average and much above the world average.

Moreover, there are indications that the improvement in the energy efficiency of Canadian transportation achieved during the 1980s may not be happening during the 1990s. Recent data on oil use for transportation in Canada, on which the carbon dioxide data depend, show an overall 12 percent increase in consumption from 1991 to 1995. This growth appears to be based largely on two factors. One is higher rates of increase in the use of diesel fuel than in the 1980s. The other is increases in the size and power of personal vehicles— mostly the result of the popularity of minivans, pickups, and sport-utility vehicles—which have caused gasoline consumption to begin increasing again after its decline during the 1980s.

Carbon dioxide comprises about 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from transport activity. Nitrous oxide comprises most of the remainder and is of growing concern because emissions of it from transport are increasing at a high rate. They rose by 66 percent in Canada between 1990 and 1995.

Oil use and its resulting carbon dioxide emissions are strongly correlated with transport activity. Regional and local impacts of transportation are less strongly correlated with transport activity over time because of recent dramatic improvements in emissions controls. Table 2 shows estimates of the proportions of major outdoor air pollutants in Canada contributed by transportation in the early 1990s.

Emissions of the pollutants listed in Table 2 are mostly declining from year to year. A significant exception is ozone, which is not a vehicle emission but the result of the action of sunlight on nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Another exception may be suspended particulate matter, especially where the particles are extremely fine (less than 2.5 µm in diameter) and thus more inhalable.

Massive growth in transport activity in OECD countries is projected for the next several decades and even more in non-OECD countries. Figure 1 compares projections concerning road vehicles for 2030 with data for 1990. All the indicators portrayed are expected to rise substantially, except fuel use for light-duty vehicles in OECD countries, which is expected to fall because major improvements in fuel efficiency are expected to offset the growth in use.

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Aviation is growing at an even higher rate than road transport—and it usually pollutes much more per passenger-kilometre or tonne-kilometre of activity. Worldwide, use of aviation fuel is expected to increase by more than a factor of three between 1990 and 2005 and to account for 27 percent of oil used for transportation as opposed to the 12 percent used in 1990. If the indicated trends continue, oil use for aviation will exceed oil use for road transport after about 2023. Use of fuel for passenger travel by air within North America is anticipated to increase at a lower rate than that for aviation generally in and between OECD countries.

These forecasts assume a continuation of present trends with progressive but modest implementation of measures to reduce transportation's impacts. Much more stringent measures have been proposed by various countries to reduce both the impacts of individual vehicles and the number of vehicles in Canada and elsewhere. These include more rigorous regulations concerning emissions, heavier taxes on fuels and vehicles, restrictions on the ownership and use of private vehicles, massive investment in public transport and other collective systems, more investment in alternative fuels including electric power, and more investment too in alternatives to motorized transport including walking, bicycling, and electronic communication. Implementation of such measures could drastically reduce the adverse impacts of transportation.

Ongoing work on sustainable transportation at the OECD, in which Canada is participating, suggests that many of the air pollution problems associated with transportation can be mitigated through technological innovation. Resolution of other problems—notably those concerning carbon dioxide and noise—may require substantial reductions in transport activity.

Responsibility for Transportation in Canada

Canada's system of government is highly decentralized. In general, the federal government has constitutional responsibility for interprovincial and international transportation; intraprovincial transportation is the responsibility of provincial governments. The federal government has complete jurisdiction over aviation and, with some exceptions, marine transportation. Interprovincial rail and truck transportation are federal responsibilities, however, the economic regulation of interprovincial trucking is delegated to the provincial governments to facilitate administration. Provincial responsibilities are in many cases delegated to municipal governments, regional and local, to provide for more sensitive delivery of services. Table 3 summarizes the current arrangement between federal and provincial governments.

Municipalities vary according to the actual and potential scope of their actions related to sustainable transportation, in part because the degree of delegation by provincial governments varies. Larger municipalities generally have more scope for action than smaller municipalities, not the least because it is usually more feasible for them to operate effective public transport systems. Local roads and sidewalks are mostly a municipal responsibility, although, as with public transport, there is often much provincial involvement in the form of funding and supervision. Municipalities generally have substantial responsibility for land-use planning, with provincial oversight in this respect varying much among provinces. Through land-use planning, provincial and municipal governments can act to encourage high densities of development, which can serve to reduce the need for travel and make public transport more feasible.

All governments operate fleets of vehicles and can set examples for fuel efficiency and environmental performance. By far the greatest number of vehicles, however, is operated by private businesses and by individuals. The performance of these vehicles can be influenced by the instruments deployed by governments and by the examples they set, but there are numerous important influences that are beyond the scope of government action. Personal and corporate commitments are required if sustainability is to be achieved in transportation and in other activities.

Recent Actions in Canada

The Government of Canada has initiated several programs to move its own operations and those of Canadians generally toward sustainability. Several of the programs bear on transportation. A Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development has been appointed to ensure that federal actions and activities become sustainable. A National Action Program on Climate Change is being implemented.

An important initiative in the National Action Program is the Voluntary Challenge and Registry (VCR). It encourages industry, business, and governments to make public commitments and to develop and implement voluntary action plans for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The federal government itself has submitted a letter of intent and an action plan to the VCR with respect to its own operations. The transportation sector represents only a fraction of the various VCR initiatives. There are several actions under way within the government to improve the operational efficiency of the federal fleet, reduce emissions, and increase the use of alternative transportation fuels.

Over the last two decades, Canada has also gained experience in the introduction of alternative transportation fuels to provide a cleaner fuel option for Canadian vehicle users. In addition, a recent agreement with vehicle manufacturers has been signed to develop a strategy for further improvements in the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles. This agreement will extend current programs to improve the on-road fuel efficiency of personal vehicles and fleets.

The Government of Canada has provided start-up funds for the Centre for Sustainable Transportation, located in Toronto. The Centre's core activity is to be the development and application of indicators of the performance of transport systems in relation to sustainability, and publication of an annual evaluation of transport systems in Canada and elsewhere.

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, which brings together federal, provincial, and territorial ministers, established the Task Force on Cleaner Vehicles and Fuels in November 1994 to develop options and recommendations for a national approach to new-vehicle emission and efficiency standards and fuel formulations. The Task Force reported in October 1995 with recommendations for stricter controls concerning fuels and emissions, especially in more polluted areas, and for greater harmonization with U.S. standards. Most of the recommendations have been or are being implemented.

A significant provincial initiative consistent with the work of the Task Force is the Clean Vehicles and Fuels Policy of the Government of British Columbia, which aims to stabilize air quality levels in the Lower Fraser Valley for as far ahead as 2020, notwithstanding expected substantial growth in vehicle ownership and use. The program includes requirements for vehicle manufacturers concerning improved emissions performance, emissions labelling of new vehicles, enhanced vehicle testing programs, requirements for improved fuels and gasoline vapour pressure controls, and tax relief for the use of alternative fuels.

The Government of Quebec has emphasized initiatives involving its municipal governments. These have included a law requiring the integration of land-use and transportation planning and leadership in the development of a long-range transportation plan for the 135 municipalities of the Montreal region. The latter initiative has resulted in the creation of a new regional transportation agency to address public transport and related transportation needs.

Municipalities themselves have acted alone and together to reduce the environmental impacts of their transport operations. An example of the cooperative programs is the Green Fleets project, inspired and managed by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which has its world headquarters in Toronto. Another example is the 20% Club, established by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities with support from Environment Canada.

The Green Fleets project operated from 1993 to 1996 and involved five Canadian municipalities as well as cities in four other countries. It helped participants to

• develop analytical tools for quantification of transportation energy use;
• improve fleet efficiency;
• reduce travel demand overall and automobile usage in particular;
• integrate local air pollution and greenhouse gas strategies; and
• work to influence relevant policies of higher levels of government.

The 20% Club involves twelve municipalities, each of which has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations to 20 percent below 1990 levels. This is being achieved through resolutions concerning targets to be met, plans to meet the targets, and commitments to demonstrate progress. Participants in the 20% Club are eligible to join ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, which has over 140 participants worldwide.

Actions by organizations outside of government can be significant. An example is the SMOG FREE program (Save Money On Gas From Reduced Exhaust Emissions) in Calgary and Edmonton, managed by the Alberta Lung Association with government support. Free emissions testing is available from participating automotive centres as part of its environmental awareness program.

The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) brings together the major private- and public-sector providers of transportation services, particularly those concerned with road transportation. TAC's New Vision for Urban Transportation (1993) resulted from an extensive process of consultation and provides guidance as to how urban areas can be planned to promote the development of sustainable communities. Its Environmental Policy and Environmental Code of Ethics (1992) provides a comprehensive set of principles to be applied when planning, designing, and operating transportation systems so as to move toward sustainability.

Canada's Involvement in International Activities

As well as its more general responsibilities for its own activities as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Canada participates in development activities through the Canadian International Development Agency and the International Development Research Centre. This work is directed toward the achievement of several kinds of sustainability—environmental, economic, political, social, and cultural--in key areas including transportation. The work of Canada's International Institute for Sustainable Development, based in Winnipeg, focuses on the sustainability of trade liberalization, a key factor in freight movement. On a bilateral basis, Canada is working with the United States to harmonize policies on energy efficiency in road transportation and on alternative transportation fuels.

The Government of Canada has worked with the OECD on matters related specifically to sustainable transportation. The OECD held a major international conference, "Towards Sustainable Transportation", in Vancouver in March 1996 that involved the development of a set of Sustainable Transportation Principles (see Appendix). These Principles were reviewed by the OECD Task Force on Transport for possible adoption at international fora. They are also being considered for possible Canadian endorsement. The nine topics of the Principles are as follows:

• right to access
• intra- and intergenerational equity
• individual and community responsibility
• protection of health and safety
• education and public participation
• integrated planning
• conservation of land and other resources
• prevention of pollution
• economic well-being

Canada participates in the OECD's Environmentally Sustainable Transportation project, which has developed criteria for sustainable transportation and is exploring scenarios for 2030 that are consistent with the criteria. The focus of the work is on how preferred scenarios can be attained and on the development of guidelines for use by national governments and others in securing progress toward sustainable transportation.

Challenges And Next Steps

Opportunities and Barriers

The OECD work may help resolve one of the challenges encountered in moving toward sustainable transportation: we are not sure what we are aiming for. Moreover, principles of the kind developed for the Vancouver conference can help guide our strategy development and decision making.

Improvements in the environmental performance of transportation systems have mostly been offset by increases in activity. But the improvements have been significant. And it should be noted that they have been secured more through the use of regulatory instruments rather than economic ones.

Two of the most effective regulatory measures in recent times can serve as examples. One has been the requirement to use unleaded gasoline. It has dramatically reduced lead levels in the air of North American cities. The second one has been the ban on the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which has led to the use of more benign coolants in vehicle air-conditioning systems. Another measure that should be recognized concerns the fuel efficiency of new cars. Regulatory action has been effective in slowing the growth of fuel use for transportation in North America even though the amount of travel has increased substantially.

A current trend, however, is to emphasize economic measures that would reduce travel or generate revenue that could be used to make alternative, less-polluting modes more attractive. As well, educational or persuasive measures should also be considered.

What is evidently needed to move our societies toward sustainable transportation are integrated packages of measures—fiscal, regulatory, and educational—that reduce the overall amount of motorized transportation and ensure that what remains is more environmentally benign.

The greatest challenge for policy makers intent on moving society toward sustainable transportation is the overwhelming attractiveness of the personal automobile: its comfort, convenience, privacy, and speed. Trucks are almost as attractive to many movers of freight. Improving their efficiency, making something else as good, or massively reducing dependence on motorized transportation will severely tax human ingenuity.

Canada's Goals for the Special Session

Present transportation trends and practices are a major barrier to sustainability. Transportation is sufficiently important as a feature of human activity and as a polluter of the environment to warrant specific treatment in Agenda 21. Canada supports the preparation and inclusion of a new annex to Agenda 21 on sustainable transportation. Canada would also like to suggest that the Sustainable Transportation Principles discussed at the Vancouver OECD conference in March 1996 be used as a starting point. These Principles were developed in the spirit of Agenda 21; they address environmental, social, economic, and other human aspirations and needs.

Canadians live in one of the world's largest and least densely populated countries. We depend more than most people on transportation and derive much benefit from our access to goods and services and to social and cultural opportunities. Canadians are also aware that our lands and waters are home to some particularly fragile ecosystems. We recognize that unsustainable transportation can cause irremediable damage, locally, regionally, and globally. This is why the Government of Canada believes that sustainable transportation is not only possible, but is absolutely essential, and is committed to its attainment.

Appendix

Sustainable Transportation Principles⁽²⁾

Problem Statement

The current transportation system is not on a sustainable path. The achievements in terms of individual motorized mobility have come at some considerable environmental as well as social and economic cost. The challenge now is to find safe ways of meeting our transportation needs that are environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically viable. Accessibility, rather than mobility, must be the focus.

Context

Humans are inherently mobile, and in most societies, mobility is both highly valued personally and essential for social and economic reasons. Over time, however, the availability of individual motorized vehicles and the globalization of trades have increased the local, regional, and international movement of people and goods, resulting in a dramatic expansion of our transportation infrastructure and systems. The cars, trucks, buses, subways, trains, airplanes, ships, and ferries that we use to move ourselves and our goods today have significant environmental implications in terms of energy and material resource uses, environmental pollution, natural conservation, noise, and land use at local, regional, and global levels.

In many countries, transportation infrastructure is increasingly devoted to motor vehicles—chiefly automobiles. The increased use of the private automobile is a major contributor to air quality problems and global climate change. While emission rates on a per kilometre driven basis have been substantially reduced in the last two decades, the enormous increase in the number of vehicles and their use has offset these gains.

Emphasis on roadways for cars has promoted the vicious circle of increasing car use, traffic, urban sprawl, and distances traveled. It has also reduced transportation options for those who are less able to access automobiles (the poor, the disabled, women, children, the elderly, etc.). Road infrastructure has tended to make more sustainable options such as walking and bicycling more difficult to use, it often detracts from the aesthetic appeal of our urban and rural environments, and it consumes land that is extremely valuable for other uses (for example, agriculture). In the meantime, in many urban areas, current public transport infrastructure does not provide commuters with a suitable alternative to the use of the automobile, particularly so in the context of urban sprawl.

The health and safety of people have also been threatened by air pollution containing toxics and carcinogenic substances, severe noise problems, and traffic accidents associated with increased car and truck use. In urban centres and their peripheries, traffic congestion causes losses in productivity, quality of life, and health (increased stress, in particular by high noise levels).

While the transportation sector is an important economic sector, contributing both directly and indirectly to jobs and export earnings, the environmental and social costs from transport, as well as the costs of maintaining and updating transportation infrastructure and services, continue to rise. Many governments can no longer afford to support this kind and pace of infrastructure development.

Principles

By endorsing these Sustainable Transportation Principles, the aim is to achieve transportation levels and systems that maintain or improve human and ecosystem well-being together. We recognize that transportation sector objectives can only be met within the environmental framework needed to ensure sustainable development.

Access

Access to people, places, goods, and services is important to the social and economic well-being of communities. Transportation is a key means, but not the only means, through which access can be achieved.

Principle 1: Access

People are entitled to reasonable access to other people, places, goods, and services.

People and Communities

Transportation systems are a critical element of a strong economy, but can also contribute directly to building community and enhancing quality of life.

Principle 2: Equity

In meeting the basic transportation-related needs of all people, including women, the poor, the rural, the disabled, and children, nation states and the transportation community must strive to ensure social, interregional, and intergenerational equity. Developed economies must work in partnership with developing economies in fostering practices of sustainable transportation.

Principle 3: Individual and Community Responsibility

All individuals and communities have a responsibility to act as stewards of the natural environment, undertaking to make sustainable choices with regard to personal movement and consumption.

Principle 4: Health and Safety

Transportation systems should be designed and operated in a way that protects the health (physical, mental, and social well-being) and safety of all people and enhances the quality of life in communities.

Principle 5: Education and Public Participation

People and communities need to be fully engaged in the decision-making process about sustainable transportation and to be empowered to participate.

Principle 6: Integrated Planning

Transportation decision makers have a responsibility to pursue more integrated approaches to planning. They must involve partners from relevant sectors such as environmental, health, energy, financial, urban design, etc.

Environmental Quality

Human activities can overload the environment's finite capacity to absorb waste, physically modify or destroy habitats, and use resources more rapidly than they can be regenerated or replaced. Efforts must be made to develop transportation systems that minimize physical and biological stress, staying within the assimilative and regenerative capacities of ecosystems and respecting the habitat requirements of other species.

Principle 7: Land and Resource Use

Transportation systems must make efficient use of land and other natural resources while preserving vital habitats and maintaining biodiversity.

Principle 8: Pollution Prevention

Transportation needs must be met without generating emissions that threaten public health, global climate, biological diversity, or the integrity of essential ecological processes.

Economic Viability

Sustainable transportation systems must be cost effective. If adjustment costs are incurred in the transition to more sustainable transportation systems, they should be equitably shared, just as current costs should be more equitably shared.

Principle 9: Economic Well-Being

Taxation and economic policies should work for, and not against, sustainable transportation. Market mechanisms must account for the full social, economic, and environmental costs, both present and future, in order to ensure users pay an equitable share of costs.

Strategic Directions

A number of strategic directions are proposed as a menu of options governments may wish to consider in implementing sustainable transportation. Recognizing varying environmental, social, and economic conditions between and within countries, some of these strategic directions may not be applicable.

Access

Complementarity of Options

• Improve access by providing environmentally sound transportation options best adapted to the specific circumstances, giving people attractive choices as to how they meet their access needs.

Demand Management

• Reduce the need for travel while protecting social and economic needs for access by changing urban form, promoting new communications technologies, and developing more efficient packaging and delivery of goods, etc.

People and Communities

Decision-Making Processes

• Make transportation-related decisions in an open and inclusive process. Inform the public about transportation options and impacts and their related costs, and encourage them to participate in decision making so that the needs of different communities (i.e., rural versus urban, cyclists versus drivers, etc.) can be understood and accounted for.
• Ensure public- and private-sector stakeholders coordinate their transportation planning, development, and delivery activities for the different transport modes to achieve integrated solutions. These transportation decisions should also be integrated with environment, health, energy, financial, and urban land-use decisions.
• Anticipate environmental or social impacts of transportation-related decisions by improving impact assessment and using life-cycle analysis rather than trying to react to them after the effects have occurred. This will result in considerable cost savings since transportation decisions often involve costly, long-term infrastructure investments.
• Consider both the global and local social, economic, and environmental effects of decisions, and minimize negative effects.

Education of the Public

• Ensure adequate education, disclosure of information and raising of awareness to allow the public to recognize the full costs and benefits of alternative transportation choices that are more environmentally responsible.

Urban Planning and Transportation Planning

• Limit urban sprawl and provide for more mixed land use through urban structure, economic, and land-use policies.
• Reduce demand (especially for automobile trips) by moving origins and destinations closer together.
• Give priority to less polluting, lower impact modes of transportation in the design of transportation systems and urban areas such as pedestrian and cycling paths.
• Provide easy access for walking, cycling, and public transport when making decisions about zoning, settlements, and urban development.
• Maintain and enhance the performance and viability of urban public transit systems. Increase its availability and attractiveness.
• Increase the safety and livability of communities by adopting measures such as traffic calming, lower speed limits, reduced parking spaces, parking pricing, and high occupancy rates in cars.
• Reconsider the organization of transport modes, whether for passengers or goods, in order to provide more environmentally efficient movement of goods.
• Protect historical sites and archaeological resources and consider both safety and attractiveness in planning, designing, and constructing transportation systems.
• Promote an environment that facilitates and encourages experimentation around transportation alternatives to diversify options or demonstrate economic and social benefits of sustainable transportation. Disseminate best practices.

Environmental Quality

Environmental Protection and Waste Reduction

• Minimize transportation-related emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, noise, discharges of contaminants to surface, groundwater (fresh and salt water), and soils.
• Minimize the generation of waste through each phase of the life cycle of transportation vehicles, vessels, and infrastructure. Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• Reduce traffic noise and set decibel level standards to avoid nuisance for people and animal life.
• Ensure that the rate of use of renewable resources does not exceed rates of regeneration and that nonrenewable resource use is minimized.
• Ensure that emergency management systems are in place in order to respond to spills, hazardous substances releases, and other transportation-related accidents.
• Establish indicators of sustainable transportation, as well as short-, medium-, and long-term benchmarks, and quantified targets and goals for traffic growth and traffic pollution that are, at a minimum, consistent with targets set by the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Land Use

To reduce habitat destruction, division of ecosystems, and loss of agricultural and recreational lands around urban areas

• avoid constructing new transportation infrastructures;
• emphasize compact urban form;
• minimize land use allocated to transport infrastructure and services; and
• minimize the division of land in the design, construction, and operation of intercity transportation systems and infrastructure, including, for example, highways, pipelines, and railways.

Energy Use

• Improve the quality of fuels to reduce their impacts on health and the environment.
• Reduce total fossil fuel consumption and other transportation energy uses through improving efficiencies and demand management.
• Reduce fuel consumption for road transport also through reduced speeds, improved driving behaviour, reduced power and speed of vehicles, and the use of onboard instruments that can provide feedback on driving practices.
• Promote the development and efficient use of alternative fuels and renewable energy.

Economic Viability

Full Cost Accounting

• Identify and recognize public supports and subsidies (hidden or otherwise) to all modes of transport and make transportation decisions accordingly.
• Internalize the full social, economic, and environmental costs (including long-term costs) of each mode of transport or transport-related practices as accurately as possible in market prices.
• Ensure that users and others benefiting from transport systems pay their full share of all costs while respecting equity concerns.

Research and Technological Innovation

• Promote research and development of innovative alternative technologies, transport logistics, transport organization, spatial planning, economic instruments, communication, and marketing methods that help achieve sustainable transportation systems. The emphasis should be on providing a wide range of transportation options with a view to achieving the best environmental solution for a particular circumstance.
• Promote research and development on better adapting economic instruments to environmental challenges, in particular, addressing long-term concerns, irreversibility of changes, and threshold effects ("switching") of the global ecosystem.
• Promote research and development programs that focus on criteria, strategies, measures, and instruments leading to sustainable transportation and initiate pilot projects and action programs for their implementation.

Job Creation

• Reconsider the common belief that our current transportation systems and the construction of new infrastructure create jobs and long-lasting benefits to the economy.
• Consider the potential economic, social, and employment benefits that could be derived from the restructuring of present transportation systems, in particular, for those sectors involved in construction of infrastructure that need to adapt to new markets.

Partnerships with Developing Countries and Countries in Transition

• Form strategic partnerships between developed and developing economies in order to create and implement new approaches to sustainable transportation. Specific initiatives with respect to access to information, impact assessment and evaluation, clean and resource-efficient technology, and financial resources should be strongly supported.

1. These references are mostly in Chapter 9 (the atmosphere) and Chapter 7 (human settlement), but there are important references too in Chapter 4 (consumption patterns), Chapter 6 (human health), and Chapter 17 (oceans and coastal areas).

2. These Sustainable Transportation Principles were developed by Canada's National Round Tableon the Environment and the Economy for discussion at the March 1996 OECD Conference, "Towards Sustainable Transportation", held in Vancouver, Canada. The Principles were further developed by the OECD's Task Force on Transport.

Additional copies of this publication are available in limited quantities at no charge from:

Transportation Systems Branch
Environment Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3
Tel.: (819) 953-9967
Fax: (819) 953-7815
E-mail: julie.charbonneau@ec.gc.ca

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada 1997
Cat. No. E2-136/2-1997
ISBN 0-662-62894-2