Reducing Carbon Emissions from Transport: Multilevel Governance and the Problem of Monitoring

Tackling climate change and reducing global greenhouse gas emission levels to meet the target ceiling of two degrees above pre-industrial average global temperatures will require multi-level governance. In this paper we examine the idea of multi-level governance and the role of the transport sector at city level in contributing to the global goal. We examine international examples and options for Australia. Although policy at city level is sometimes well developed, monitoring of the effect of policies is not yet carried out systematically, transparently and in such a way that would enable city governments to adjust their policies to maximise goal achievement. Without monitoring we cannot know whether policies are effective. We explore methods that have been proposed to monitor carbon emissions from urban transport and their potential application in Australia.