External costs of transport in central and eastern Europe : final report

2003PDFResearch PaperENV/EPOC/WPNEP/T(2002)5/FINALTransportationIndirect costsEnvironmental impactsPolicy makingTransportation policyEnvironmental policyCentral EuropeEastern EuropeEnvironmentally sustainable transport (EST)Eastern EuropeOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentNTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Environment ImpactsNTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-PLANNING AND POLICYCurrent and projected transport trends in Central and Eastern Europe are not sustainable and cause severe damage to human health and the environment. Transport-related accidents, air pollution, noise, climate change impacts, etc. generate large social costs. These costs are usually not covered by the users, but have to be borne by the whole society. Consequently, ignoring these external costs result in market inefficiencies that favor more harmful transport modes. Knowing these external costs is a prerequisite to develop strategies for their internalization, and thus for making progress towards sustainable transport - a key issue on the transport policy agenda. This study gathers together ? for the first time ? detailed data on external costs of different transport modes in the Central and Eastern European countries. The report presents the detailed results of the study including current external costs by mode of transport and by country and as well as a number of conclusions and recommendations for policy. It also contains an estimate of projected future external costs of transport in 2010 for the CEI region as a whole. This study can serve as a basis for improving the assessment of external costs and developing strategies towards their internalization and thus contributing to environmentally sustainable transport in the CEI region. (107 p.; 755kb