ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to review the effectiveness and ease with which the policy tools available to governments (at different levels) can be implemented in order to combat the main natural environmental issues surrounding the provision of transport. The chapter first considers the transport-related environmental problems that governments need to tackle, before summarising the literature that justifies state intervention to reduce environmental impacts. It then looks at the range of policy tools open to governments at different levels to reduce environmental impacts and the theory behind each of these approaches, before describing experience of implementing these policy tools in practice, by the means of case studies. These options range from voluntary agreements, through the imposition of Pigouvian taxes, to direct regulation of transport activities and to emissions trading schemes. This leads to a discussion of the implementation and operational challenges of each type of policy option, including the practicality of turning a theoretical concept such as ‘the polluter pays’ into a workable system. The chapter concludes with a brief evaluation of the different policy options from the point of view of both their impact on environmental problems and the practicalities of implementation, including reference to the level of cooperation between agencies that is required for them to work.
