For EU to meet its intermediate and long term targets on Climate Change it is essential that the environmental performance of the transport sector notably improves. In doing so all available reasonable measures must be used, EU and country wide, as well as regionally and locally. This report presents six successful examples of measures that have been implemented locally and that could serve as masters for similar implementation elsewhere.

The six case studies investigated in the report are:

• The Ecodrive Programme (The Netherlands) - aimed to instill ecodriving principles at an early stage, approximate savings in 2004 were 97,000 to 222,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
  
• Speed Control (The Netherlands) - a programme to strictly enforce speed limits on a 3.5 Km stretch of motorway, which achieved estimated reductions in CO2 emissions of 15 per cent.
  
• Environmental Zone (Czech Republic) - reduced heavy goods vehicles in Prague city centre through weight restrictions. This resulted in an estimated CO2 emissions reduction of 1,600 tonnes per year.
  
• London Congestion Charging Zone (United Kingdom) - a scheme designed to reduce congestion in the centre of London which achieved an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions of 16.4 per cent in 2003. Similar schemes have been implemented in other cities (e.g. Stockholm, Oslo and Trondheim).
  
• Freight Consolidation Centre (United Kingdom) - reduces the number of larger or partly empty freight vehicles servicing construction sites in London and has achieved an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions from these vehicles of 75 per cent.
  
• Teleconferencing (United Kingdom) - use of teleconferencing facilities reduced the amount of British Telecom's business related travel, both nationally and internationally and led to an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions of just under 100,000 tonnes in 2006.

In each of the six cases, compliance with the new measures was ensured through the use of planning, regulatory, economic or information policy instruments. In every case, positive changes occurred through either the avoidance of travel, a shift to more environmentally friendly modes of transport or improvements in the energy efficiency and technology of vehicles. These shifts occurred across all the main transport user groups: the private, public and freight transport sectors. In addition to a reduction in GHG emissions, the benefits included improved air quality, a reduction in noise and increased accessibility through reduced congestion.

However, the report highlights the need for additional policy instruments and measures to achieve greater reductions in GHG emissions.

URL: http://reports.eea.europa.eu/technical_report_2008_2/en/#documentContent