Europe is faced with a dilemma: how to sustain the current high level of access and mobility while avoiding their negative impact. In spring 2006, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report summarizing ten selected issues from the EEA’s TERM (transport and environment reporting mechanism) set of transport and environment integration indicators.

The aim of the publication is to indicate some of the main challenges to reducing the environmental impacts of transport, and to make suggestions for improving the environmental performance of the transport system as a whole.

As with previous TERM reports, this publication evaluates the indicator trends in terms of progress towards existing objectives and targets. This is carried out using EU policy documents and various transport and environmental directives.

Contrary to press reports, there is no single cure for transport related environment problems as moving towards a more sustainable transport system requires an integrated approach. Problems should be considered well in advance and not just tackled at the end-of-pipe phase via emission regulation. Regional, structural, employment and agricultural policies have an impact on transport demand. Integration of environmental considerations into other policy areas (as agreed by the European Council in Cardiff in 1998) therefore requires that in all of these policy areas consideration is given not only to the direct environmental impact but also to the impact on transport demand.

The report is available on the EEA website