Environmental and energy impacts of transport: international and Greek experiences and management policies

Abstract

This article presents policy issues through current international and Greek experiences
to address the external cost associated with the use of transport infrastructure, mainly with regard to the environmental pollution and fossil energy consumption. These two specific components of the external cost of transport are analyzed with respect to their sources, namely, emissions from automobile and other modes of transport, and the type of fuel, as well as the corresponding cost induced by other sectors of the economy. Based on this information and in conjunction with the EU predicted trends in energy consumption, it is suggested that the future of the transport sector in Greece is strongly connected with the ongoing environmental policy goals as formulated by the European Commission and other international agencies. For this reason, a package of both short- and long-range planning and management actions are proposed to handle the problem. Emphasis is provided to the current policy of the Greek government for the energy consumption in the transport sector, and to measures which aim at mitigating environmental pollution due to automobile emissions, principally through enhancing the use of more environmentally friendly and less energy intensive modes of transport, such as railway.