Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
shall not be used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective
measures to prevent environ-
mental degradation.' Although originally developed by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), the polluter pays principle was transposed as
Principle 16 of the UNCED Rio Declaration (1992). It reads: 'national authorities
should endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of
economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in
principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without
distorting international trade and investment'. As originally drafted by the OECD, the
polluter would not be held to pay for the cost of pollution but, rather, the cost of mea-
sures taken to prevent or control pollution.
6
A policy principle of crucial importance to aviation is that of fair treatment between all
transport modes. From an economic perspective, the selective introduction of external
costs to aviation alone could create diseconomies and inefficiencies rather than eliminate
them. Therefore, in order to avoid competitive distortions, economic measures to inter-
nalize externalities, if introduced, should apply to all competing economic activities in
the same sector.
7
This study, carried out for the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), assessed all external
costs related to transport by air, road and rail on five selected European corridors. It con-
firmed that all transport modes produce external costs and that, in certain circumstances,
rail transport may have higher external costs than air transport. It also demonstrated that
rail transport generally has the best performance in terms of external costs on short dis-
tances between major centres and in terms of ground access to airports. The study also
showed that when compared to road transport, rail access to major airport hubs may help
to improve aviation performance in that it reduces delays, accidents and local emissions.
References
ATAG (2002)
Aviation and Sustainability
-
Partnerships to Meet Society's Growing Mobility
Needs
, Air Transport Action Group, Geneva
Barrett, M (1991)
Aircraft Pollution - Environmental Impacts and Future Solutions
, WWF,
Gland
Brundtland, H (1987)
Our Common Future
, World Commission on Environment and Devel-
opment, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Brus, D (2001)
The Costs of Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Aviation
, ICAO Discussion Paper,
Montreal
CE Delft (2002)
External Costs of Aviation - Main Report
, CE Delft, the Netherlands
COWI (2000)
Civil Aviation in Scandinavia - An Environmental and Economic Comparison
with Other Modes of Transport
, COWI, Denmark
Dobbie, L (1999) 'Airline Environmental Performance',
ICAO Journal
, vol 54, no 7
Environment Agency, UK (2001)
Response to Consultation by DETR on the Future of Aviati
on,
EA, London
European Commission (2001)
European Research in the Stratosphere 1996-2000
, DG
Research, Brussels
IATA (2002)
General Remarks Concerning the CE Delft Study - External Costs of Aviation,
IATA, Geneva
INFRAS (2002)
External Costs of Corridors - A comparison between air, road and rail
,
INFRAS, Zurich
IPCC (1999)
Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere
, Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
