Adapting transport policy to climate change: New OECD report

traffic jam on a motorway at dawnClick to enlarge
Transport accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany.
Source: ARTENS/ FOTOLIA.com

A new OECD report discusses examples from countries like Germany, Japan and New Zealand of how transport policy can be better adapted to climate change. The report also examines the major challenges in assessing the economic damage caused by greenhouse gases.

The three key challenges are the monetary valuation of climate damage, the treatment of uncertainty, and discounting, which is about how to take account of the future costs and benefits of environmental policy measures.

Environmental policy seeks to avoid causing damage to the environment and health both in the present and the future, and climate change policy most vividly illustrates that the costs of climate change mitigation measures are lower than the costs of the damage incurred through inaction, clean-up and adaptation measures. Annex C of the OECD report highlights the key elements of the assessment of climate damage and of uncertainty and discounting based on UBA's Methodological Convention 2.0 for Estimates of Environmental Costs.

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 climate adaptation  sustainable transport policy  monetary value of environmental damage