Miles to Go Before They’re Green

A performance-based approach to combating surface transportation-generated greenhouse gas emissions.

Miles to Go before They’re Green

In the U.S., transportation is responsible for about one-third of the nation’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The largest single contributor to the problem—responsible for more than half of these emissions—is surface transportation, such as cars, trucks, and buses, in the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

MSAs that want to take steps to reduce GHG emissions, however, are challenged by insufficient funding and jurisdictional and policy barriers, often due to fragmented local leadership from rail, bus, highway, and port agencies. But unless they mitigate the impact of surface transportation on GHG emissions, they’ll continue to be outsized carbon contributors.

To meet the scientific community’s goal of 80% emission reductions by 2050—and to avoid the most serious impacts of climate change—innovative thinking is needed in the surface transportation sector.

A new and promising approach developed by Booz Allen Hamilton recommends funding transportation projects based on a region’s success in meeting GHG reduction goals. This unique performance-based approach would cost only a fraction of the federal government’s traditional annual investment in transportation, and put the 2050 goal within reach.

Booz Allen’s proposed program would be administered by a federal agency such as the U.S. Department of Transportation. It would provide incentives in the form of funding based on MSA performance in achieving GHG emissions reduction, and on grants for investing in GHG-reducing transportation policies—the greater the reductions, the greater the funding. MSAs could use the grants to develop emissions reduction strategies and implement the infrastructure needed for regional planning and reporting capabilities. The program would then shift from these grants to a more performance-based orientation as a region’s projects start achieving measurable GHG reductions.

Unlike previous proposals, this program would not mandate a specific approach to GHG reductions; MSAs could adopt the most efficient method for their region, city, or county. This would not only encourage innovation, but also align with the development needs and policies of each regional and local community. In addition, all involved jurisdictions of a given MSA would have the drive and the means to collaborate on and implement a single plan.

For Booz Allen’s program to be successful, however, there must be increased cooperation among the federal government, municipal jurisdictions, and local agencies. But this can be accomplished with performance and investment grants and coordinated local transportation policy leadership. Considering the growing impact of GHG and the inevitability of it worsening if not curtailed, creating an unconventional policy approach to diminishing carbon emissions from surface transportation is a feasible and pragmatic step.

Booz Allen's Gary Rahl, David Erne, Victoria Adams, and Stephanie Sand are the authors of "Miles to Go before They’re Green: Reducing Surface Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions through a Regional Performance-Based Framework."

study posted August 10, 2009

Additional Information

• "What's in YOUR Tailpipe?" — Listen to an interview with Booz Allen vice president Gary Rahl, who explains how federal agencies may be able to help cities have a global impact, reducing greenhouse gases, by acting locally.  This interview aired on Federal News Radio on August 28, 2009.