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ENT10: Policy tools to influence vehicle purchasing behaviour

Background and contents

The increase in transport and energy consumption in Europe makes the transport sector one of the main contributors to the growth in green house gas (GHG) emissions. Furthermore, being almost completely dependent on oil products, the transport sector today is vulnerable to diminishing oil resources and rising oil prices. It is thus important to create a more sustainable transport system for reducing air pollution by diminishing GHG emission and changing energy demand patterns.

In fact, one of the major roles of transport policy is to manage, slow down or reverse transport sector CO2 emissions.

The White Paper “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”: emphasizes the urgency of reacting to the situation. The EU has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8% in 2008-2012 compared to the 1990 level. EU strategy for reducing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption is to decrease CO2 emissions of newly registered passenger cars to an average of 120 g/km by 2010. Part of EU strategy also includes measures aiming at influencing consumer behaviour e.g., higher taxes on fuels and agreements with the automotive industry.

Within this context it appears relevant to start cooperation between national research programs.

It is important to assess the effects of policy encouraging a shift toward cleaner vehicles as the car fleet renewal rate is very slow, with new cars expected to last for at least 20 years.

The objective can be attained many ways by behavioural changes and/or technical improvements.

Key ideas and objectives

The main objective of ENT10 is to provide policy makers with a framework for choosing among possible tools that can influence car purchasing behaviour in favour of more environmentally-friendly vehicles. This will include an assessment of the consequences of various measures and of transferability of experience across countries.

Participating countries

Belgium, Denmark (leader), France, Norway and Switzerland.

Contributions from the UK and Germany to the overview of the areas of joint research.

Expected results and aim of cooperation

It is expected to retrieve a trans-national strategy in this field that gives partners countries an indication on core interests of other countries and can serve as a solid foundation for common cooperation and coordination activities.

Status and intermediate results

Position paper and country contributions
Overview of the areas of joint research
Meeting should be organised in 2007 in order to identify the possibilities for clustering activities and eventually for a joint call.