Americans love cars and hate taxes. So it should be no surprise that “taxes” designed to discourage the use of cars are today’s hottest political potato. Last week, attending an international conference in Sweden, I learned that traffic and road pricing issues are not just politically radioactive in America, but all around the world.

Europe is out in front on traffic and transportation issues. The Green Party, once an ignorable fringe group, now provides swing votes that mainstream parties may need to gain control of governments. Moreover, the European Union has mandated that its members reduce carbon emissions. One key to compliance is reduction of car and truck traffic, accomplished most efficiently by road pricing and increased parking fees.

Even in Asia, where middle-class families are trading in their bicycles for cars at just the wrong moment in climatic history, there is pressure to reduce traffic and air pollution generated by millions of vehicles traveling on streets that were built to accommodate two-wheelers. As Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, few issues are more important than air pollution that could debilitate the world’s athletes.

In Sweden, Social Democrats won control of the government a few years ago with help from the Green Party. In return, they agreed to introduce congestion pricing in Stockholm. In January 2006, Stockholm began a six-month trial of congestion pricing that places the equivalent of a $2 charge on cars as they enter and leave the central business district during busy times of the workday.

Although there was initial resistance, recent polls of the Stockholm electorate indicate that more than 60% now favor the congestion-pricing program. Retailers, who worried they might lose business, have seen a 15% increase, as compared to a nationwide increase of 7% during the same period. Taxi drivers and businesses that depend on delivery of goods and services have experienced lower costs and increases in revenues. Traffic flow has improved, business is strong and the environment is getting cleaner. It appears that a referendum to make the road charges permanent will be approved by the voters in September.

In the U.S., a campaign to reduce traffic congestion and improve the environment through road charges and other strategies is being led by the Bush Administration’s Department of Transportation. On the other side of the political spectrum, but the same side of the congestion issue, is Al Gore’s global warming awareness campaign. And San Francisco has become the first major American city to receive federal funds to pursue a congestion pricing program similar to those operating in Stockholm and London. This unlikely confluence of interests from the left and the right suggests that the time has come when America is bound to take a serious look at the costs and consequences of our car culture.

The nation’s business community has yet to weigh in on the problem of congestion, but that is likely to change very soon. The globalization of the economy has led to the resurgence of New York and other major American cities, generating a spurt of urban growth and resulting traffic gridlock that can no longer be ignored. More people and more businesses are being drawn to our great cities and the result is a mounting problem of inadequate infrastructure – both mass transit and road systems – to accommodate continued growth.

Cities that are out front with efforts to manage their traffic problems are already enjoying a “halo” effect among international business executives, who measure the attractiveness of business locations on the basis of ease and reliability of access to clients, customers, airports and family. The length of commute for highly paid employees is only one of many congestion-related considerations that are factored into location decisions of employers. Others include delivery time, inventory storage costs and business logistics. Mobility matters most to the high-value service industries that are key to the economies of world cities.

Climate change, which is directly connected to the level of carbon emissions from vehicle traffic, is also becoming a serious concern to business. The huge cost of catastrophic weather events to the global insurance industry is only one of the business continuity and risk management challenges triggered by climate change across all industries. Corporate giants, including General Electric, HSBC, IBM, Citigroup, Swiss Re, Alcoa, and many others, are demonstrating that reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions not only contributes to social and environmental objectives, but also leads to new lines of business and improves the company bottom line.

A speaker at the Stockholm seminar noted that road charging is one of those difficult issues that politicians around the globe are promising to deal with after the election that follows the next election. That time line may no longer be acceptable to constituencies that are experiencing a loss of time and money as a result of unrestricted use of cars and trucks in center city locations.

Traffic congestion impedes economic growth by making a city less efficient and less attractive to business. Cities around the world are finding the political will to do something about it, and New York will likely have to do the same if we are to maintain our competitive advantage.

Ms. Wylde is the president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for New York City, the city’s leading business organization.