Abstract

Continuously rising CO2 emissions are still a major problem of transport activities world-wide. Although most developed countries have introduced a broad portfolio of policy measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they continue to increase virtually all over the world. Passenger car transport contributes the largest share to this problem. The core objectives of this paper are: (i) to provide a survey on fiscal policies for car passenger transport in major OECD countries; (ii) to analyze their corresponding impact on energy consumption, service demand (vkm driven), and fuel intensity in passenger car transport, and (iii) to extract to what extent which tax policies are a promising instrument to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions. With respect to the future development of car passenger transport the major perception of this analysis is that only a broad portfolio of policy instruments with a core focus on standards and taxes will be necessary to reduce fuel intensity, energy consumption as well as GHG emissions significantly. 1.