Urban sprawl and climate change: A statistical exploration of cause and effect, with policy options for the EU.

Abstract: This study provides a brief evaluation of the relationship between trends in transport emissions and urban land-use by analysing correlation between transport CO₂ emissions data, GDP and population data with land-use change data from the CORINE database for EU Member States between 1990 and 2000. It concludes that the correlation between transport CO₂ emissions and the increase of artificial land area is much stronger than the correlation between CO₂ emissions and GDP or population data. The paper argues that this correlation is a strong justification for using land-use based policies to reduce CO₂ emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]