Overview & Purpose

Securing an energy future that is not tied to the unpredictability of foreign oil markets is vitally important to our national economic security. We need to break our dependence on foreign oil and become energy independent. To assist in enhancing domestic security and addressing the issue of global climate change, transportation policies are needed to reduce dependence on foreign oil while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As federal, state and local governments, industry and the environmental community work to identify strategies to meet energy and climate security goals, it is important to determine what strategies can realistically be expected to achieve. In the transportation sector, opportunities to support energy and climate goals include vehicle technology, alternative fuels, transportation system operation and driver behavior, and reducing travel demand.

AASHTO's Sustainable Transportation: Energy, Infrastructure, and Climate Solutions Technical Assistance Program is designed to assist state DOTs understand the potential effects of climate change and the range of strategies and options for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Sustainable Transportation: Energy, Infrastructure, and Climate Solutions Steering Committee and the tasks being implemented by the  Technical Assistance Program are helping achieve these goals.

For more information on AASHTO's policy positions related to energy and climate change, link to Transportation: Are We There Yet? Energy Independence, Climate Change and Transportation.