ABSTRACT
As mobility and transport use continue to grow, so do the negative environmental impacts associated with increased transport use. This chapter explores some of the potential economic policy options available to governments to help achieve this. It does so by considering potential policy options through a political economy lens, thereby focusing on the interaction of political and economic processes within a society and exploring how these affect the potential acceptability and effectiveness of measures. Essentially, political economy is concerned with how 'real-world' policies differ from those that would appear to be the most effective from a theoretical or evidentiary perspective due to consideration of factors beyond the evidence of effectiveness or need. The chapter provides a detailed discussion of three measures- vehicle scrappage, congestion charging and low-emissions zones (LEZs), and offers a wider discussion of environmental impact and public acceptability. It concludes by considering what this means for governments and policy makers interested in greener transport.
