Toward low carbon mobility : Tackling road transport emissions

The ever-increasing trend to greater mobility has brought about a situation in which considerations of sustainable development might call for restrictions on the continued growth of the global mobility of people and goods. The transport sector is not the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, but accounts for a constant part in them and heavily depends on non-renewable fossil fuel. The prevalence of road transport in the sector's emissions makes it a priority in this necessary effort to move away from a carbon-intensive mobility. This study gives an overview of the options for progressing towards a low-carbon road transport. The solutions include necessary technological advances, and behavioural and organizational changes without which the benefits from these advances would be reduced. Economic instruments and public policies are needed to provide a vital support to this transition. In this regard, although emission abatements in the sector are generally considered to be costly, setting a price to CO2 emissions can prove an efficient way of adjusting relative prices according to comparative environmental benefits, thus favouring lower-carbon solutions. The options already experimented and the most credible ways forward give a glimpse of mobility's future, and food for thought to make it even better.