It is widely believed that one solution to environmental problems would be for governments to raise the price of petrol. While I consider that this might be an effective measure, I would argue that other measures might have an even greater impact. If national authorities raised taxes on petrol, this would address two environmental issues. Firstly, in terms of private cars, motorists would limit the number and length of their journeys to compensate for the extra expense. Governments would then be forced to upgrade and expand public transport provision, as people would still need to travel to work, to school or to travel to shops and hospitals, for example. Secondly, from the perspective of freight services, more goods would have to be transported by rail rather than by truck. Both these measures would cut down on emissions from vehicles and help to reduce the greenhouse effect. On the other hand, while this rise in fuel prices might be a useful stopgap measure, governments ...