Environmental Protection - a major problem of the Europe of tomorrow

The main issues of INFRA/IWW study

    External costs of transportation, excepting urban agglomeration, rises to Euro 530 billions of which more than 92% belong only to the road transportation.
    INFRA/IWW study, completed in 17 European countries, having as referential year that of 1995, revealed data that do not raise any doubt as related to the prejudice brought to the environment by the uncontrolled development of transport activity.
    External costs (except urban agglomerations) reach at the amount of Euro 530 billions for 1995 or at 7.8% of state’s Gross      Domestic Product of the total average of the countries where the study was performed.

    External costs (without agglomerations) in Westward Europe in 1995 - Euro 530 billions

              Accidents 29.4% (Euro 155.6 millions)
                Air pollution 25.4% (Euro 134.3 millions)
             Climatic Changes 23% (Euro 121.8 millions)
             Upstream - downstream 10.7% (Euro 56.5 millions)
             Noise 6,9% (Euro 36.5 millions)
             Nature and landscape 3% (Euro 16 millions)
             Urban effects 1.7% (Euro 8.9 millions)

    In comparison with the situation from 1991, data belonging to 1995 show a progressive increase of costs because of the atmospheric pollution (+215%), and of costs related to the climatic changes. Atmospheric pollution and climatic changes lead to expenses that represent an aggregate of 48% out of external ones. Road transportation is responsible for 92% of the external costs, of which 57% are caused by the private automobiles and 29.4% due to the freight road transportation, followed by the air transportation with 6%, the railway transportation with 2% and the naval transportation with 0.5%. Two thirds of the environmental external costs are caused by the public transportation and only one third by the freight transportation.
INFRAS/IWW study analyzes both public transportation and freight transportation as well. The revealed values are the basis for other further analyses, since they represent the most thorough evaluation ever completed before.
Thus, for the transportation for passengers we notice that private automobiles generate a cost of Euro 87 per one thousand of passengers or km, whereas buses and coaches only Euro 38; railway transportation generates just Euro 20 per one thousand of passengers or km, which is 4.4 times lesser than that resulted from private automobiles.
The average costs of air transportation reaches the amount of Euro 48 for one thousand passengers or km, and it is pretty obvious that they too, are much more reduced in comparison with road transportation costs. With regard to freight transport, average external costs for air transport reach Euro 205 per 1000 tones payload or per 1000 km; they are proportionally larger than any other means of transportation. Average external costs for road transport reach the amount of Euro 88 per 1000 tones payload or 1000 km while train transport costs only Euro 19 per 1000 tones/km - a fifth of road transportation.

External costs reach 10 % of European GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

Agglomeration caused by various transportation means is included in costs of transportation ways that the user individually decides to use the infrastructure without pondering the consequences this action will exert on other users.
The report presents three values for overall costs coming from transportation-caused agglomeration:
        - Net growth after the introduction of an optimal tax on agglomeration (1995 - they had a value of Euro 33 billion representing 0.5% of GDP);
        - An evaluation of time loss in report with a situation supposing no agglomeration (Euro 128 billion - 1.9% of GDP);
        - Sums cached in by introducing an optimal tax on agglomeration (Euro 254 billion - 3.7 % of GDP).
    The preliminary evaluation (1.9 % of GDP) is very close to the real figures obtained during last years by the European Commission (Green Carta for Equitable and Efficacious Transportation Taxing) and by ECMT. By adding these results to the whole external costs ensemble a total aggregate of Euro 658 billion in 1995 - representing a little under 10% of GDP (9.7%).
In 2000 this aggregate total represented approx. Euro 700 billion.

 

Primary estimates for 2010

The INFRAS/IWW report includes a primary estimate for external costs for 2010. These estimates are related to traffic noxious emanation evolution. The data is excerpted from the TRENDS European research project.

        Total external costs for Western Europe (agglomeration included)
                1995 - Euro 658 billion
                Per transportation Per cost class
                Road transport - 93.2% Euro 613.4 million
                Air transport - 4.9% Euro 32.3 million
                Railway transport - 1.6% Euro 10.3 million
                Naval transport - 0.4% Euro 2,4 million
                Accidents - 23.6% Euro 155.6 million
                Air pollution - 20.4 % Euro 134.3 million
                Agglomeration - 19.5% Euro 128.4 million
                Climatic changes- 18.5% Euro 121.8 million
                Upstream - Downstream Euro 56.5 million
                Noise - 5.5% Euro 36.5 million
                Nature and landscape - 2.4% Euro 16 million
                Urban effects - 1.4% Euro 8.9 million

    Hypothesis are related to a transport evolution without the radical modification of current trends - meaning without the intervention of transport policies or environment policies that are supposed to pass to the benefit of environment-friendly transportation.

First estimates for 2010:

    - External costs, outside agglomerations will increase by 42% between 1995 - 2010 (provided the current policies will not change);
    - The largest increase will be registered on road and air transport;
    - Average costs with the exception of agglomeration will increase by a lesser percentage due to productivity improvements;
    There are two factors that explain the percentage of 42% in the increase in external costs during 1995 - 2010: the increase in value of damage brought to environment. The most important increase in external costs will be registered in air and road transport.
The same values are applied of course to aggregated external costs (including agglomerations) where agglomerations represent a cumulative phenomenon in constant increase and in close relationship with the traffic. Aggregated costs will continue to rise in spite of technical improvements and productivity amelioration in all domains, especially in road transport that generates the most noxious emanations. Such previsions will be realized if nothing will be done to bypass the current trends of uncontrolled growth in activity for various transports. Citizens have a right to expect from the duly appointed to take action in order to prevent such gory scenarios from happening.

Major distortions on the transportation market

    The fact that overall costs generated by various transportation means were neglected for so long led to major distortions that interfere with the overture of the unique market. To these, other distortions are added, resulted from non-harmonizing social regulations among transportation methods and from failing to uphold technical and exploitation specifications. Such distortions are an obstacle in the path of the development of environment-friendly transportation methods - especially railway transportation and lead to the global increase in overall external costs on a global level. The results obtained by the INFRAS/IWW study show that the amplitude of external costs was underestimated in anterior research. The INFRAS/IWW study shows raised values, generated by a better knowledge of the pollutant substances and of the effects over the environment. If nothing will be done to apply a transport that will integrate the real external costs and to introduce instruments to reduce such costs, the problem will extend to include future generations - a fact that is ethically and politically unacceptable.

The necessity for political commitment regarding environment protection

    Protecting the environment is one of the chief priorities for varied political powers whether national, European or global. All such organizations have fixed their objectives to limit the negative effects over the environment and to prevent their appearance in the future.
    Among the institutions that took it upon themselves to fight for the environment’s protection we could mention:
United Nations organization (UN) that during the Rio Declaration, in 1992 insisted that the Caution Principle be applied to prevent climatic changes in order for the internationalization of average costs for environment to lead to the polluter = payer principle;
    The Kyoto world conference in 1997 regarding climatic changes and the greenhouse effect established a prime objective that is still far from recommendations submitted by scientists that proposed stabilizing the gaseous stock that contributes to the creation of the greenhouse effect (we would like to remind you that 40% of CO2 emissions are generated by transports and almost 90% are due to road traffic). We notice today that although the regulations regarding noxious emissions control established by the Kyoto conference were limited, they were nevertheless impossible to uphold (the Hague Conference at the end of November 2000 will establish a preliminary report);
The European Union that approached in the Article 2 of the Union Treaty the durable development and insuring a high level of protection and amelioration of the environment. The declared objective concerned the pollution reduction and limiting the increase in toxicity;
OCDE presented through its Environment Department many studies (i.e. EST Environmentally Sustainable Transport - 2030) and formulated many forecasts;
CEMT - that made it its policy to protect the environment

Reporting Silvia Mitulescu

Data compiled from a study published under the IRU aegis (International Railways Union) and ERC (European Railways Community)
to be continued...