Editorial : social and health implications of active travel policies

Abstract

There are a number of considerations when addressing the implications of active travel. On one hand there are the evident gaps in transport policy that implement active travel measures as a means of reducing the burden of environmental externalities from the current transport systems. These policies are still today very much centred primarily around the car and the burning of fossil fuels, and are therefore major contributors to climate change (Bache et al., 2014). Indeed, the transport sector is where greenhouse gas emissions (making up 27% of the total emissions in 2018) have increased since 1990 across all of the EU-27, with road transport being responsible for 72% of the total transport emissions in 2018 (European Union, 2020). On the other hand, there are the problems related to health and physical inactivity.