Transport 3 Transport in a green economy

This section examines how a green transport sector can lead to green economic growth, create jobs and reduce poverty.

3.1 Supporting green growth

Investment in transport is often justified on the grounds that the movement of goods, services and workers is the vital fuel of the economic engine. Freight transport volumes have traditionally been thought to strongly correlate with economic growth on the supply side and passenger car use to be driven by economic growth on the demand side. There is evidence, however, to suggest that high levels of GDP can be accompanied by transportation systems that rely less on the private car, as may be seen in Figure 5.

This figure shows that cities and regions can significantly decouple car use – and the associated environmental pressures – from economic growth. In a green economy, mobility needs would be reduced through better city

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design and planning and impacts would be decoupled from growth through providing high quality, low carbon transport, especially through public transport, NMT infrastructure and cleaner, more efficient vehicles. For individuals, the lower levels of congestion and reduced travel time would leave more time for productive activities, especially if there is access to more frequent, reliable and affordable public transport services. By reducing fuel use and transport time, companies can be more competitive and profitable. McKinnon (2008) and UNEP (2008c) show that measures designed to improve the efficiency of freight transport reduce operational costs in addition to delivering carbon savings.

Of the various channels through which investment can flow into green transport, investment in infrastructure offers the greatest potential for economic growth by encouraging government investment and stimulating new business opportunities. Investment in green transport technology is also likely to benefit the overall economy, particularly through its potential to stimulate government investment (see Table 3).

Riyadh

Perth Calgary

Brisbane 80 Kuala Lumpur 60

Tehran MexicoCity

40 Casablanca 20 Cairo

Ho Chi Minh City Cape Town

Curitiba Abidjan

Salvador Seoul

BogotaSao Paulo Moscow Johannesburg

Manilla Beijing

Harare Dakar Chennai Mumbai Shanghai 0 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,00 50,000 60,000 GDP per capita (US$)

Figure 5: Moving towards a green trajectory Source: UITP database (2005)

Jakarta Warsaw

Tunis Cracow

Guangzhou Budapest

Buemos Aires Prague

Tel Aviv Montreal Wellington

Athens Lille Taipei

Manchester Glasgow

Newcastle Barcelona Fio de Janeiro Madrid Hong Kong Amsterdam Turin

London Berlin

Rome Bologne Milan Singapore Marseille Brussels Nantes Stockholm Ruhr Graz Sapporo

Copenhagen Lyon Stuttgart Paris

Hamburg Oslo

Vienna Osaka

Geneva Düsseldorf Berne Tokyo Most efficient pattern

European pattern Zurich

Frankfurt Munich

Ottawa Toronto Sydney Melbourne

San Diego

Phoenix Houston

Los Angles Chicago

Vancouver

Atlanta Denver

Washington San Francisco New York

North American pattern

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Modal share of motorised private mode (per cent)