Climate Change and the Transport Sector: Are we travelling in the right direction? Update November 2010

Transport plays a fundamental role in our society. By enabling the physical movement of individuals and goods from one place to another, transport facilitates production and trade, provides customers with access to goods and enhances labour mobility.

When the challenges associated with meetings society's transport needs are identified, the most common themes that emerge are increasing demand, congestion and the burgeoning cost of building and upgrading transport infrastructure.

Climate change has not been a high profile issue in this regard despite the significant implications of climate change for the transport sector. In particular, the transport sector makes a substantial contribution to Australia's greenhouse emissions. Furthermore, the physical consequences associated with climate change can pose important risks for transport infrastructure. Nevertheless, there are also significant opportunities within the sector to reduce emissions, including a range of regulatory mechanisms, financial incentives and voluntary programmes.

In collaboration with Hassell and Hyder Consulting, Maddocks has prepared a discussion paper on the impact of climate change on the transport sector. In this paper, we:

• establish a framework for examining the implications of climate change for the transport sector
• identify the extent to which practical responses to the impacts of climate change on transport infrastructure are accommodated within existing regulatory regimes
• explain transport's contribution to climate change and identify ways in which the emissions caused by transport can be reduced, including policies and regulations that encourage emissions reductions in this sector.

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