Typology of the chains of causalities of environmental impacts in the transport sector

International audienceMost of the environmental assessments do not take into account properly the variety of the environmental impacts, or are using tools, which do not represent the impacts. A correct representation of the whole range of impacts is necessary to ensure that sustainability takes into account environmental issues to a satisfactory degree. What are the impacts on environment? What are their characteristics or typical features? We answer to these questions by using the concept of chain of causalities, between a source and a final impact. The parameters of the chain of causalities are: the type of source (infrastructure building, vehicle production, energy production and distribution, traffic, vehicle and infrastructure destruction), the process itself through the main scientific disciplines involved, the time and distance scales between the source and the final impact, the type of final target (nature: resources and ecosystems; humans: human health in a restricted meaning and human well-being; man-made heritage; earth covering all the targets). This analysis allows us to define 44 chains of causalities, corresponding to various public concerns. They are independent and cover all the impacts