PCT and Transport

CarbonLimited is conducting Research into PCT. The discussion paper to the right of this page sets out to assess the implications of PCT to the transport policy field, what it may offer and how it could be applied.

The principle intention is to stimulate discussion so please comment in the space below, adding your name and who you work for (should that be relevant) at the end of your comment.

Key points from the paper include:

• Emissions from transport sector are growing more than any other sector and are particularly resilient to reduction efforts, with benefits of car efficiency improvements often being lost due to strong overall growth in mobility.

• It is increasingly recognised that tackling emissions from transport will require influencing the everyday decisions and actions of individual citizens.

• Pricing will need to play an important part in influencing individuals, but there are many questions over the effectiveness and public acceptability of conventional taxes and charges.

• PCT may be able to offer some advantages over other policy options in terms of public acceptability and effectiveness in altering behaviour.

• Our research in to public attitudes suggests that there may indeed be some advantages to PCT. However, the ease with which a PCT scheme could be used will be crucial in determining actual acceptability.

Many thanks for your comment. I certainly agree that this is a serious issue, as are all the possible equity impacts from PCT which this paper does not go in to. Look out for our report on equity and public opinion to be published in the next month. There seems to be a general assumption amoungst the literature (eg Ekins and Dresner) that the issues of equity relating to domestic energy use are more significant than those relating to transport usage. This is because of there being more low income households with high domestic emissions than with high transport emissions, and because the impacts of fuel poverty can be so severe. I wonder if the transport issues are more significant that this view suggests? Many people already suffer from 'under travelling' to the extent to which they are unable to access essential services such as hospitals or shops. Could PCT exasperate this problem? Ben Castle RSA CarbonLimited

Any PCT Scheme should include a control for the possibility that low income households might sell off their quota early in the year to supplement their incomes and then then find they cannot travel when they need to.