Can new communication technology promote sustainable transport?

Under business-as-usual projections, global car ownership and travel will continue to rise. In future, oil might still be available at higher prices than today, but the climate change implications of oil use will remain. As evidenced by the continued rise in global transport GHG emissions, conventional proposed solutions for mitigation are not working. Accordingly, this paper examines whether the new information technologies can contribute in a major way to the environmental sustainability of global passenger transport. The main finding is that the two technologies considered here-travel substitution and smart cities-could potentially increase or decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, both travel substitution and smart transport, if given the right policy support, could be important means for enabling people and organisations to cope with the need for reduced travel in a climate-constrained future.