Tradable driving rights in urban areas: their potential for tackling congestion and traffic-related pollution

Congestion pricing as a transport demand management measure is difficult to implement because most of motorists expect a deterioration of their welfare. Tradable driving rights (TDR), that is allocating quotas of driving rights for free to urban inhabitants, could be a more acceptable alternative. This mechanism provides also a supplementary incentive to save whether trips or distance travelled by car, because of the possibility of selling unused rights. A complete system of TDR is designed in detail, aiming whether at reducing trips or vehicles-kilometres, in order to control congestion, or the same target modulated on the basis of the pollutant emission categories of vehicles in order to control atmospheric pollution. An assessment is carried out on the Lyon urban area, which points at some welfare distributive issues between motorists and the community, when compared with conventional congestion pricing.transport demand management (TMD) ; tradable driving rights (TDR) ; automobile traffic ; congestion pricing ; air pollution ; urban areas ; Lyon (France)

Incentive-Based Instruments for Water Management

This report provides a synthesis review of a set of incentive-based instruments that have been employed to varying degrees around the world. It is part of an effort by The Rockefeller Foundation to improve understanding of both the potential of these instruments and their limitations. The report is divided into five sections. Section 1 provides an introduction to the synthesis review. Section 2 describes the research methodology. Section 3 provides background on policy instruments and detail on three incentive-based instruments -- water trading, payment for ecosystem services, and water quality trading -- describing the application of each, including their environmental, economic, and social performances, and the conditions needed for their implementation. Section 4 highlights the role of the private sector in implementing these instruments, and Section 5 provides a summary and conclusions

Water Quality Trading Systems: An Integrated Economic Analysis of Theoretical and Practical Approaches

Permit trading systems are often the centre of current interest and activity in the creation of market-based environmental instruments as it is assumed that these systems can offer significant advantages over conventional approaches to pollution control. Economic investigation of permit trading systems often focuses on case studies for air pollution control. Such permit trading systems also exist (in theory and practice) for water pollution control, in form of water quality trading systems. The fact that pressure is being put on the quality of water resources in many countries resulting in serious problems means that there is a need to analyse the application of this instrument to control water pollution of rivers in more detail in order to identify its potential. Scientific work on water quality trading systems is rare. This is the starting point for this study. It tries to fill the gap in the literature in several respects. Firstly, a comprehensive analysis shows the particularities of the application of permit trading systems to water, and to rivers, in particular. Ecological and economic criteria are redefined with respect to the specific characteristics of rivers. A comprehensive and standardised evaluation system is developed that allows a comparable examination of the trading systems. Secondly, this study evaluates existing theoretical and practical approaches of water quality trading systems with respect to these same developed criteria. For the first time, an integrated, comprehensive and comparable analysis of different trading systems applies. Thirdly, results of the evaluations are consolidated by linking theoretical and practical approaches

Understanding the role of trading in water quality management : based on U.S. experience

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references.This research demonstrates an overview of the performance of water quality trading programs currently implemented within the U.S. The role of trading in water quality management is identified through systematical comparisons of all possible aspects related to trading process, structure, and scale of existing water quality trading programs. The role of trading focuses on the output of achieving standard ambient water quality and on increasing the flexibility of water quality management to enhance effectiveness and accommodate economic growth. The trading encourages independent polluters to make pollution control decisions that best suit their own situations. The trading reduces overall operating costs and distributes equity on water pollution control abatements between point sources and nonpoint sources. The achievement of each program is mainly affected by various factors that include (a) the flexibility of trading rules and water pollution regulations, (b) the polluters' obligation and financial ability to meet regulatory requirements, and (c) the localized characteristics of water pollution problems and diversity of polluters in a watershed. Any water quality trading framework should promote the principle of simplicity, reliability and minimal costs.(cont.) The recommended approaches for improving program implementation are to (a) shift towards a cap-and-trade system; (b) allow the execution of a multi-party permit; (c) establish a statewide trading policy; (d) set up a hybrid system (between tradable permit and tax/rebate system); and (e) test the practicality of a program on a smaller scale before actual implementation at a larger scale.by Chanathip Pharino.Ph.D

Training Resource Manual: The Use of Economic Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management

This is a training resource manual. It supports the development of training in the use of economic instruments - pollution taxes, user fees, property rights, etc, - for sustainable development in general and for environmental and natural resource management in particular.It is designed for use by trainers with some background experience and understanding of environmental and natural resource management and at least intermediate level economics. It is meant to assist such trainers prepare and deliver training courses that provide an understanding of economic instruments and a basic capability to use such instruments in a practical setting