Inside the black box: EU policy officers’ perspectives on transport and climate change mitigation
(2016) In Journal of Transport Geography p.83-93- Abstract
- Transport is a significant and growing contributor to climate change. To stay within ‘safe’ global warming guardrails requires substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. This represents a global political consensus, but there is evidence that current legislation in the transport sector is not significant enough to achieve medium- and longer-term reduction goals. In focusing on the European Union, this paper investigates the perspectives of twelve policy officers in three Directorates-General (MOVE, CLIMA, ENV) of the European Commission with regard to their understanding of mitigation goals and timelines, responsibilities for policy development and implementation, and perceived efficiencies of these policies to achieve climate... (More)
- Transport is a significant and growing contributor to climate change. To stay within ‘safe’ global warming guardrails requires substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. This represents a global political consensus, but there is evidence that current legislation in the transport sector is not significant enough to achieve medium- and longer-term reduction goals. In focusing on the European Union, this paper investigates the perspectives of twelve policy officers in three Directorates-General (MOVE, CLIMA, ENV) of the European Commission with regard to their understanding of mitigation goals and timelines, responsibilities for policy development and implementation, and perceived efficiencies of these policies to achieve climate objectives in the transport sector. Results indicate diverging and common views on climate policy goals and political responsibilities, as well as barriers to policy-making, including lack of political leadership on climate change mitigation, resistance from member states, the favoring of economic growth over cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, pressure from industry and lobby groups, preferential treatment of aero- and automobility over more sustainable transport modes, policy implementation delays, insufficient forecasting and monitoring tools, and an overreliance on technologies to contribute to emission reductions. In offering a view inside the ‘black box’ of transport policy-making, the paper reveals fundamental institutional (structural) and individual (agency-based) barriers that will have to be overcome if significant emission cuts in the transport sector are to be achieved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/59592dca-42ea-41cc-9d8c-904e4d8f3435
- author
- Gössling, Stefan LU ; Cohen, Scott A. and Hares, Andrew
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Transport Geography
- pages
- 83 - 93
- publisher
- Pergamon Press Ltd.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84991650644
- ISSN
- 0966-6923
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.10.002
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 59592dca-42ea-41cc-9d8c-904e4d8f3435
- date added to LUP
- 2017-05-24 13:33:50
- date last changed
- 2022-12-14 17:33:00
@article{59592dca-42ea-41cc-9d8c-904e4d8f3435,
abstract = {{Transport is a significant and growing contributor to climate change. To stay within ‘safe’ global warming guardrails requires substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. This represents a global political consensus, but there is evidence that current legislation in the transport sector is not significant enough to achieve medium- and longer-term reduction goals. In focusing on the European Union, this paper investigates the perspectives of twelve policy officers in three Directorates-General (MOVE, CLIMA, ENV) of the European Commission with regard to their understanding of mitigation goals and timelines, responsibilities for policy development and implementation, and perceived efficiencies of these policies to achieve climate objectives in the transport sector. Results indicate diverging and common views on climate policy goals and political responsibilities, as well as barriers to policy-making, including lack of political leadership on climate change mitigation, resistance from member states, the favoring of economic growth over cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, pressure from industry and lobby groups, preferential treatment of aero- and automobility over more sustainable transport modes, policy implementation delays, insufficient forecasting and monitoring tools, and an overreliance on technologies to contribute to emission reductions. In offering a view inside the ‘black box’ of transport policy-making, the paper reveals fundamental institutional (structural) and individual (agency-based) barriers that will have to be overcome if significant emission cuts in the transport sector are to be achieved.}},
author = {{Gössling, Stefan and Cohen, Scott A. and Hares, Andrew}},
issn = {{0966-6923}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{83--93}},
publisher = {{Pergamon Press Ltd.}},
series = {{Journal of Transport Geography}},
title = {{Inside the black box: EU policy officers’ perspectives on transport and climate change mitigation}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.10.002}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.10.002}},
year = {{2016}},
}