Transport policy in Dutch election manifestos: Estimating the environmental impact

It has become a tradition in the Netherlands to assess the environmental impact of election manifestos produced by Dutch political parties. This paper shows that the assessment methodology chosen for transport policy proposals can lead to uncertain estimates. However, election manifesto transport analysis can meritably establish which election manifesto offers the most—and which the least—environmental impact, a robust result that does not mislead the public. The pros and cons of assessing election manifestos have been fiercely debated in the Netherlands. Following this debate and our own observations we conclude that another important merit of assessment is that it can assist political parties in making their election promises realistic and consistent.