The experiences of civil society organisations in the CEE, Eva Csobod, Regional Environmental Center, Hungary, Presented 23 September 2009, Brussels

1. The experiences of civil society
organisations in the CEE.
CSO Platform on SCP
Eva Csobod,
Regional Environmental Center, Hungary

2. Personal mobility
Trends in personal mobility Drivers in personal mobility
• Increasing number of private cars • Little/poor infrastructure for cycling/walking
• Increasing road development • Increasing speed of life
• Working from home: but transport levels still • Convenience
remain!
• Fiscal/economic inctentives
• Rate of cycling is growing
• Traffic laws
• Urban sprawl  bad spatial
planning/regulation
• Individual preference for cars, prestige
Impacts of personal mobility
• Noise, air pollution, congestion
• Loss of time in traffic jams
• Space consumption for road infrastructure
• Conflicts between drivers & „non-motorised“
• Large number of people killed in accidents
• Health problems, decrease of the life quality
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 2

3. State of the art in public transport
Trends in public transport Drivers in public transport
• Different trends in E & W Europe (e.g. modal • EU funding (imbalances)
split)
• Speed (better roads etc.)
• W: increasing investment in PT
• Values, demands of consumer society
• More intelligent mobility management
• Urban sprawl
• Intermodality
• Globalisation, income increase
• Stagnating flexibility of PT
• Tax reductions, subsidies
• Share of PT is decreasing
• Increasing ticket prices
Impacts of public transport
• High rate of private cars due to good roads
• Additional mobility is created
• Worse environmental quality
• Workplace is more distant from home
• Modernisation brings more riders
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 3

4. Technological innovations
Trends in technological innovations Drivers in technological innovations
• More efficient engines • Lower costs
• Increase in use of biofuels • Energy security
• Increase in oil prices • Increased focus on innovation
• Lighter weight vehicles • EU funding
• Second generation biofuels • Political pressure on low-carbon cars
• Development of hybrid and electric cars • Car manufacturers incresingly grasp the
urgency of innovation
Impacts of technological innovations
• Land use of biofuels
• Competition for food (1st generation biofuels)
• Higher price of alternative fuels (production costs)
• More demand for transport (e.g. high-speed trains vs.
moving to other city)
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 4

5. Transporting goods and logistics
Trends in goods transport Drivers in goods transport
• Constant growth, exceeding GDP growth • Low prices due to huge subsidies (incl. non-
internalised external costs, cross-financing
• The most env‘tly polluting modes grow fastest
(e.g. car owners), infrastructure building)
• Not market oriented railway operators
• Road is more flexible and faster than rail
• Regulation & control for road is much quicker
than for rail
• Powerful road haulier‘s organisations
Impacts of goods transport
• Environment and health
• Congestion
• Increased resource use
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 5

6. Conclusions: Mobility
Contradiction: increased
awareness of sustainable way Prices don’t reflect costs (e.g.
of transport – but still cheap flights)
increasing unsustainable
modes of transport
Mobility
EU funding does not always go
Impact of mobility is increasing to the right place (does not
support sustainable
development); public control of
spending
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 6

7. Funding for SCP
Current situation Solutions
• Fact: Different funding opportunities in different • Lets look what we can do in our project, what our
countries. assets are.
• Lets look what we can do in our project, what are • May be we should develop three tangible project
our assets. ideas ready and these can be sent to the
organizations we know.
• May be we should develop three tangible project
ideas ready and these can be sent to the • Researchers and CSOs can work together to
organizations we know. develop project ideas. For example, at the
household level understanding the current issues
• Researchers and CSOs can work together to
and making an action plan to change in
develop project ideas.
cooperation with policy maker.
• Sometimes CSOs lack their own performance
• National Plans on SCP: How can CSOs help
monitoring.
implementation? How CSOs can participate in
• Foundations are not so much aware of the topic. building up the national strategies?
• Agenda setting at funding agencies: Writing a
common letter to lift the topic at foundations.
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 7

8. Conclusions
Sharing of good
practices and
knowledge
Enable more
citizens’
involvement
Mobility
Consistency of Change the
policies mobility
Create stronger
paradigm to
links between
demand
mobility and
management
climate change
CSO Platform on SCP Report from the first conference 8