Funding Mobility in a Post-Carbon World
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1 July 2020 Report Funding mobility in a post-carbon world Camille Combe Funding mobility in a post-carbon world 2 3 Executive Summary Between 1990 and 2017, the transport sector only being addressed subsequently. Each has a solutions will be complex and will require the was one of the only industries to record an methodology based on consultation with local bridging of gaps over the social, territorial increase in total CO emissions, from 22% stakeholders, a key requisite for a successful and economic divides. Funding 2 to 24%. As it currently accounts for around transition of mobility funding systems. one quarter of these emissions on a global mobility in scale, transport is and should be the focus Recent news (the Yellow Vest movement in of strategies to combat climate change. France, protests in Chile against increases However, the demand for travel is constantly in public transportation prices) shows that, a post-carbon rising, as a result of demographic growth and while the fight against climate change is now upward trends in incomes related to strong widely accepted, the question of avenues and global economic development over the last resources remains debated and unresolved, world few decades. In order to successfully reduce particularly as changes to mobility costs have the carbon intensity of the various forms of a direct consequence on the democratic mobility, action must be taken quickly and principles of freedom, equal treatment and expensive solutions must be implemented, fairness. The success of a mobility funding against a backdrop of increasingly scarce public mechanism is therefore highly dependent resources which will further exacerbate the on its acceptability, which requires an upcoming economic crisis. understanding of concerns which may appear contradictory but which cannot be separated: This does not mean, however, that cities economic efficiency, local area access, the and States are powerless when it comes polluter pays principle, social inequality, etc. to meeting this challenge. As international Information and communication (on phasing examples show on various territorial levels, over time, the aims of measures and their many instruments can be used to finance expected effects) therefore play a key role in a reduction in carbon intensity for mobility. this acceptability. Furthermore, as increases By combining technological, technical and to mobility prices may be viewed as a loss political innovations, cities such as Oslo, Hong by users, equalisation mechanisms that Kong, Singapore, New York and London have are perceived to be compensatory must be Table of Contents rolled out or are testing effective solutions, implemented as a necessity. This involves based on an overhaul of the conventional a clear allocation of revenues to reducing fiscal tools (mileage charge, taxes or quotas on the carbon intensity of mobility (by funding vehicle registrations) or on the development additional mobility services) aimed at regulated 08 The shortcomings of the current system of taxes based on land and building assets areas. (land value capture). The strategies selected 18 Using funding to reduce carbon intensity in mobility by these cities all share a roadmap and clear The issue of mobility in a post-carbon world objectives, with the question of instruments cannot be solved by technology alone; 58 The search for resources to fund mobility in a post-carbon world 104 Methodology 116 Notes Funding mobility in a post-carbon world 4 Foreword 5 Thinking power and constraint, which are always and investing at associated with a reduction in mobility, do not lay the foundations for a sustainable democratic the right scale societal project that federates and unites. Lastly, we will see that it is easier to fly the flag for mobility reduction than to tackle the great complexity of carbon intensity reduction in an increasingly mobile world. BY CÉCILE MAISONNEUVE, PRESIDENT OF LA FABRIQUE DE LA CITÉ Furthermore, this increased demand for mobility is an opportunity as it facilitates a transition of the system. We should instead consider the challenge of reducing the carbon intensity The energy component of the climate change of Europe’s electricity generation, against a debate often focuses on electricity generation backdrop of falling demand, which results in an methods, which are the leading source of CO unnatural conjunction of oversupply, increased 2 A spatial approach to land travel emissions: the emissions. Yet while there is still a long way costs for the consumer and negative price case in France to go, statistics show that work has begun to effects on the wholesale markets. Demand for (Source : Jean Coldefy) reduce the sector’s carbon intensity. mobility is not only growing but is also changing (more customised solutions) and diversifying, The same cannot be said for the mobility according to the local area. sector, which accounts for one quarter of global emissions: work to reduce the sector’s carbon Against such a backdrop, funding mobility and intensity has not yet begun at a time when reducing its carbon intensity seem to be two the demand for travel is constantly growing. sides of the same coin. As demonstrated by the are used. As shown in the following diagram, we measures such as a carbon tax which affects Out of all forms of mobility, it is land travel, the practical examples we present, there are many can see, and deplore, that once again political rural mobility with a secondary impact on the focus of this report, which is by far the major different solutions out there, which combine a and media overinvestment in the city-centre climate are measures which circumvent or challenge for the reduction of carbon intensity range of tools to both finance mobility solutions only focuses on a tiny part of the problem. complicate discussions without solving the in mobility. and reduce the system’s carbon intensity. This problem. does not mean hiding behind the tempting By contrast, the forgotten forms of mobility, Let us start by saying outright that this excuse of saying “Yes, but in my country/ either between the metropolitan area and the The urgency does not lie in taking sweeping report does not vehicle a downward outlook, city, it’s different” to avoid taking action. This periphery of the major city (mobility between action across the board, instead it involves stating from the outset that mobility must be is why, going beyond an analysis of available suburbs) or between the suburbs and the centre thinking and investing on the correct sale, by reduced everywhere. First of all, the issue is instruments and solutions, this report looks at are at the heart of the carbon intensity issue. drawing up an order of merit for the solutions considered from an international standpoint. how a result can be achieved. It is fascinating to be rolled out and combining them where While our western societies are - marginally to see that despite the diversity of areas and As the challenges are clearly spatial in nature, a necessary. - experiencing a revival of old degrowth cultures, the principles behind the acceptability spatial approach must be adopted, local area by arguments, this is not the ambition of the huge of mobility funding measures are relatively local area, for the solutions to be implemented. majority of people on this planet. Secondly, this uniform. The same billion invested will have a very report adopts an approach based on history different impact if it deals with the issue at and on the economy, which, far from Marxism, This report therefore stresses the need to apply the correct level or if it does not. It must be Malthusianism and any form of guilt-inducing tried and tested methods for a local approach to noted that limiting the issue of carbon intensity moralism, shows that technical progress has mobility. This analysis is backed up by the fact reduction to public transportation, which only always been a means of tackling a lack of that forms of mobility have a different impact concerns the centre and immediate suburbs, resources and that the reduction of spending on climate according to the areas in which they or instead adopting a wide range of random Funding mobility in a post-carbon world 6 Introduction 7 CLIMATE CHANGE IS A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR The incomplete concept of transport has Fig. 2 been replaced by that of mobility, which is Diagram illustrating the definition of HUMANKIND. AS EARLY AS 1992, IN ITS FRAMEWORK mobility given by Jean-Marc Offner now preferred in scientific works and political (Source: La Fabrique de la Cité) CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, THE UNITED discourse. This is more than a simple semantic NATIONS DEFINED AN OBJECTIVE OF “[ACHIEVING] shift, a mobility-based approach provides an understanding of the complexity of the STABILIZATION OF GREENHOUSE GAS CONCENTRATIONS sector and the reality of travel, and therefore its emissions. For Jean-Marc Offner, General IN THE ATMOSPHERE” TO PREVENT “DANGEROUS Director of the Bordeaux Métropole urban ANTHROPOGENIC INTERFERENCE WITH THE CLIMATE planning agency (A’urba), mobility can be defined as the “space-time of operations”6. 1 SYSTEM ». THE PARIS AGREEMENT ADOPTED FOLLOWING Contrasting a modal approach focused on THE 21ST CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES IN 2015 (COP21) vehicles and infrastructure, this definition evokes the location system (the way in which INCORPORATED THE OBJECTIVE OF REDUCING CO2 activities, places and facilities are designed in the area) and each person’s own activity EMISSIONS INTO THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER. system (lifestyles and practices). It therefore calls for an analysis of factors outside the transport sector that may contribute to the increase in CO2 emissions, starting with for the continuity of mobility services and funding models under threat? How can the demand trends. accessibility against a backdrop of increasing transition towards a mobility system able to With energy generation, transport is the focus sector, their effects should not obscure the climate variations.