Conclusion : Three Countries, Three Different Paths


Across Europe, the road sector makes up over 70% of transport emissions. As such, reducing the number of cars on the road has become a key priority for decarbonizing economies. To make this happen, France, Norway, and Luxembourg have each come up with a different approach.

 
France: Curbing fossil fuel energy use through a fuel tax. In an effort to lead by example and walk the talk on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the French government announced an increase in fossil fuel tax in late 2017, along with rebates for buying electric vehicles. The economic rationale for taxing vehicles using fossil fuel is pretty straightforward:  the tax is expected to cover for all negative externalities associated with car use, including carbon emissions, but also air and noise pollution, traffic congestion, and safety hazards.  The measure, however, was heavily criticized for constraining individual mobility—especially for low-income workers in rural areas. This is a reminder that the issue of social acceptability needs to be an integral part of climate policy.

Norway: Support for clean energy mobility. The Norwegian government focused most of its effort on promoting alternative energy sources in transport, with generous incentives for electric vehicles: zero import, VAT, and road tax; toll-free travel for plug-in cars; publicly financed charging stations, etc. As a result, Norway has the highest per capita number of all-electric (battery only) cars in the world, with electric vehicles representing 47% of the nation’s newly registered passenger cars in June 2018.  While the numbers are impressive, this model remains centered around the use of private cars, which brings with it problems like traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution.

Luxembourg: Free public transport. In Luxembourg, the government opted to invest in modes of transport that will hopefully reduce the use of cars: making all trains, trams, and buses free, which has important fiscal impacts.
 
These three policies may look very different; they have in common, however, the centrality of the car for individual mobility, promoting a model that emerged with the industrial revolution a hundred years ago.


Post by,
Nurul Ihsan binti Ahmad Bakhari

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