Supporting International Cooperation for a common assessment methodology of ITS applications on energy efficiency and CO2 emissions

Europe, Japan and the USA share the conviction that ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for Transport can make a significant contribution to reducing the environmental impact of transport.
However, it is essential to know which applications and technologies are likely to be the most effective. There is therefore a need for a well-validated and generally endorsed methodology which accurately and reliably measures the effects of ITS on energy efficiency and CO2 emissions.

ECOSTAND provides a platform for cooperation between the three regions to exchange state-of-the-art information, define a joint research agenda and roadmap for the development of such a methodology.

A Task Force involving the European Commission and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been active since March 2008 to that end. In addition, in January 2009, an agreement was signed between the EC and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) of the US Department of Transport (DoT) to deepen the collaboration on cooperative systems and the “greening” of transport. In practice, both bilateral taskforces will be combined into joint meetings, forming a trilateral task force, i.e. ECOSTAND.