The purpose of this call is to increase knowledge about how the planning of the transport systems can contribute to climate and environmental objectives.
We invite organizations, individual researchers or research groups to come up with applications in the order of SEK 2-6 million distributed over 2-3 years (2018-2020). Several projects will be granted which together can have a budget of SEK 25 million. Projects that approved funding are expected to interact with each other in external communication and to identify synergies between the projects. We encourage researchers from different disciplines to work together. The deadline for applications is 15 September 2017.
Challenges in environmental management
Transportation affects several environmental quality objectives such as: Reduced Climate Impact, Clean Air, A good Built Environment, A Non-Toxic Environment as well as A Rich Diversity of Plant and Animal Life and other objectives related to landscapes. Road transport in urban areas is area-intensive and entails substantial health effects as a result of air pollutant emissions. Transport is the dominant or one of the predominant sources of several contaminants such as particles and NOX. Approximately two million people in Sweden are exposed to traffic noise which might cause health effects. The natural environmental is affected as a result of road accidents and the spread of species and by intrusion, fragmentation, disturbance and barrier effects.
The transport sector accounts for about a third of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and about half of Sweden's emissions in non-trading sector. The government, based on proposals from Environmental Objectives Preparation Board (Miljömålsberedningen) has recently introduced a bill "a climate policy framework for Sweden" (Prop. 2016/17: 146), which proposes sectoral targets for transport which means that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by at least 70 percent from 2010 to 2030. This is a strategy according to which Sweden should not have any net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045th.
Despite that the technological progress is assessed to accelerate and contribute to the main part of the emission reductions that is required, Environmental Objectives Preparation Board (miljömålsberedningen) and former FFF investigation determined that a significant portion of emission reductions need to occur through reduced traffic volume. Concepts such as low-transport and transport-efficient society has symbolized a society where the total traffic is lower than the current level. The Swedish Transport Administration calculates that the traffic volume must be 10-20% lower in 2030 than current levels in the scenarios aiming at the target to reduce emissions by 80% compared to 2010. For this to happen, the climatic and environmental objectives need to be reflected in the planning of transport infrastructure as well as in other transport policy instruments affecting both personal and goods transport.
This research call is expected to result in projects which improve understanding of the importance of climate and environmental objectives as well as the institutional conditions in decisions regarding infrastructure planning and other transport policy. Institutional conditions include formal structures such as regulations and also informal structures such as habits, routines, norms of the actors involved in the planning process. The research is also expected to improve the knowledge of how the combination of policy instruments, which aims to contribute to a sustainable and zero carbon transport, work and interact, and this in what degree is affected by factors such as national and regional conditions, attitudes, norms, etc.
In this research, it is important to take into account the effects and consequences of urban and rural areas of different policy instruments and action combinations. It is also important to take into account the ongoing technological development (such as electric drive and automation of vehicles) in the transport sector and the development of new business models (increased possibility of automatic control and sharing of vehicles) that technological developments are expected to lead to.
Swedish EPA expects to benefit from the results of this research in supporting the government with knowledge needed for design of the efficient transport systems.
Research priorities
Based on this background the Swedish EPA needs broader knowledge and systematic approaches in three main areas that mainly deal with land transport (road and rail). The priority areas are described below. An application can target one of these areas.
Climate and environmental objectives important in decision making with regard to transportation planning
We ask for projects that contribute to increased knowledge about the importance and effect of the climate and environmental goals in different stages of transportation planning and how decisions on infrastructure investments are affected by the climate and environmental goals. A question that would be interesting to explore is how the trade-offs between different objectives (climate, impact objectives and other transport policy and societal objectives) considered and managed in the process of infrastructure planning. Furthermore, there is a need to examine how the design of the supporting document could be developed so that decision-making in the transport sector follow the direction of climate change and other environmental objectives.
The importance of the design of the regulatory frameworks and the informal structures in the planning of the transport system
Decisions about spatial planning and infrastructure planning are guided by the institutional arrangements including the regulations governing these institutions.
As for laws and regulations it would be interesting to study to what degree the regulations which control the physical and infrastructure planning (e.g. Environmental Code, the Planning and Building Act, the Roads Act and the Act on railway construction) and their implementation, taking into account different environmental impacts (e.g. climate, noise pollution, air quality, biodiversity, etc).
Increased knowledge would be further desirable about the importance climate and other environmental impacts on these rules and their application in comparison with other aspects, i.e. how big of an influence do the climate and other environmental impacts have on the decision making.
It would also be desirable to gain more knowledge on how informal structures (habits, routines, norms and discourses that are represented by different actors), separately and together, affect decisions on physical and infrastructure planning with regard to the climate and environment, as well as between various planning levels.
Transport policy instruments for transition to sustainable and fossil free traffic in our transport system
In addition to the planning of transport infrastructure there are a range of transport policy instruments that have an impact on passenger and goods traffic, and ultimately the environmental impact they impose.
A few of these instruments intend completely or partly to limit the negative impact of transport on the environment (economic instruments such as taxes on fuel, the purchase and ownership of vehicles as well as various administrative and informative instruments). The effect of these instruments on the environmental impact of transport can be influenced by various factors such as national and regional conditions, attitudes, standards, etc. The knowledge about how the effects can vary depending on various factors is limited and we therefore emphasize on need for more knowledge in this area. Furthermore, there is a need to examine the power of these different policy instruments from the climate and environmental perspective. To investigate how different instruments interact with other instruments as well as with physical planning and infrastructure planning are also of interest.
Who can apply?
The main applicant must hold a PhD and conduct research at universities, colleges, research institutes, or government agencies carrying out research as part of its mandate. “Research institute” refers to organizations that have research as their sole or principal part of their mandate. The main applicant should be affiliated with a Swedish organization with a Swedish corporate identity number (“organisationsnummer”).
How to apply:
Timeline for the call
- 15 September 2017: Deadline for applications
- 1 December 2017: Funding decision
- 1 January 2018: Project starts
Responsible officers:
Lars Westermark
E-post: lars.westermark@naturvardsverket.se
Telefon: +46-8-698 11 99
Neda Farahbakhshazad
E-post: neda.farahba@naturvardsverket.se
Telefon: +46-8-698 12 50