The following short briefing may be of interest and/or service in the run up to the budget. In particular, we hope this information will be of assistance for the current debate about the relative merits of carbon taxation and/or increased excise levies for reducing the impacts of fossil fuelled transport.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA):

• Psychological health effects imposed by stress levels (e.g. in many urban situations).

-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

NOTES

(1) TERM 2002, External costs of transport Indicator fact sheet. Available at:

(2) "Environment in the European Union at the Turn of the Century", Environmental

Assessment Report No.2, EEA, p.32). This figure is broadly consistent with data from the

UK prepared by the Environmental Transport Association (Available at: http://www.basden.unet.com/G/facts/road.costs.html)

(3) Unrecovered costs in the market are technically known as "external" costs (or "externalities"), since they represent a cost to society which is not recovered through conventional market mechanisms.

The main principles for internalising unrecovered environmental costs are set out in various international agreements (e.g. UN, 1997, UNECE "Vienna Declaration"; UNECE / WHO, 1999, "London Charter on Transport, Environment and Health"; Vancouver Conference 1996 "Towards sustainable transport".

• Pollution prevention: Transport needs must be met without generating emissions that threaten public health, global climate, biological diversity or the integrity of essential ecological processes.

• Health and safety protection: Transport systems should be designed and operated in a way that protects the health (physical, mental and social well-being) and safety of all people, and enhances the quality of life in communities.

• Nature-saving land and resource use: Transport systems must make efficient use of land and other natural resources while preserving vital habitats and maintaining biodiversity.

Other external costs of transport that also affect society, but are not directly born by the transport user who has caused them consist of:

• Urban separation,

• Non-covered accident costs (such as loss of labour and productivity, but also grief

and suffering),

• Congestion (time loss inflicted on others),

• Non-covered infrastructure costs,

• Fragmentation of landscape, land-take and ecological separation

The internal (or private) costs, are those borne directly by the individual user of transport services.. For example, for road transport, these costs include car purchase, fuel, maintenance, taxes, charges and premiums, and the cost of spending time.

(4) Revenue from road users in Ireland is collected as vehicle registration tax (VRT), fuel tax, road use tolls and parking charges.