Overview
The potential is considerable: up to 64% of shopping related trips in EU are made by car and almost 100% of goods are transported by motorized vehicle. In the Netherlands alone, retail accounts for 7.2 billion car-kms every year: this equals 1.08 billion kg CO2 per year! And 34% of these trips are shorter than 5 km!
Unfortunately different stakeholders often hold opposing views. For retailers the car is often seen as the panacea. Policy makers must urgently cut carbon. Moreover, retail and mobility are still separate policy fields, with little attention to their interaction.
The overall objective is to reduce carbon emissions created by retail related traffic in town and city centres while also supporting jobs and growth in the local retail economy. We will improve regional policies through innovative new projects and by improving governance so that the different stakeholders can agree common solutions.
Regional policies were improved through innovative new projects and by improving governance so that the different stakeholders can agree common solutions. Improvements were made by:
- analysing partners’ plans through peer review,
- identifying good practices that will improve these plans, studying them through Study Visits, importing them via special workshops and Regional Action Plans.
- developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Tool that will help understanding about sustainable mobility and retailer confidence.
Funding
Results
In terms of activities, the project has organised a total of 94 policy learning events. It has also identified 28 good practices, produced 8 action plans and led to the increased capacity of 74 people. In terms of results, the project has succeeded in improving 5 regional development policies for a total amount of funds influenced of EUR 62,270.00.