DfT publishes new reports on climate change and transport to assist evidence-based decision making
Fri 29 July 2011
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The Department for Transport has published two new reports on climate change and transport; one, the final part of a series, focusing on a market segmentation analysis and the other on social and distributional impacts of climate change policy options. The reports will help to provide background information to underpin policy decisions relating to transport and climate change.
The DfT says that behavioural insights are an important component of its vision for a transport system that is an engine for economic growth but one that is also greener and safer and improves quality of life in our communities.
In the final report of a series commissioned by the DfT, nine distinct segments or groups have been defined according to their transport behaviour, attitudes to transport, attitudes to climate change and the environment, characteristics and circumstances.
The segmentation model provides a useful framework for policy makers, local authorities and other external bodies in delivering evidence-based sustainable transport initiatives. In particular, the model identifies:
•Which policy options practitioners could consider as potentially effective with each segment, and which may be seen as less effective
•How practitioners could see particular motivators and barriers to more sustainable transport behaviours as more or less relevant for work with each segment
•How practitioners could see particular segments as priorities in relation to reducing the overall emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from transport in their local area.
The report includes advice on replicating the segments using a small set of so-called ‘Golden Questions’. Local authorities and others may wish to use these as part of further research to identify which segments predominate in their local areas. This in turn may help them to identify which initiatives are more (or less) likely to be effective at enabling and encouraging more sustainable transport behaviour in their local areas.
A second report comprises a knowledge review exploring the Social and Distributional Impacts of Climate Change Policy Options. The report provides insights for consideration by policy makers on potential social impacts of climate change initiatives and how they may affect different groups in society. It should provide a useful resource to help encourage the design of local sustainable transport initiatives that minimise and/or mitigate any potential negative impacts on vulnerable groups within the local population.
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