Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport

World Bank Publishes Report on Transport-Related Emissions in Chinese Cities

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:57:05 +0000

The World Bank has published a working paper titled “Urban Transport and CO2 emissions: Some evidence from Chinese cities” that seeks to establish a baseline for carbon dioxide transport-related emissions in China. The report provides a preliminary analysis of urban transport characteristics, energy use and CO2 emissions for a diverse set of cities in China.
Download the report here.

Bridging the Gap Workshop in Bonn, 8th June

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:57:45 +0000

The 2010 Bridging the Gap Workshop Climate Change and Development in the Transport Sector What do we need to achieve GHG mitigation from land transport? invites participants to have a closer look at tackling climate change in the land transport sector. This will include understanding the root causes for today’s climate challenges in the transport sector, what policies are needed both for short-term measures and long-term sustainable land transport in developing countries, and what role various stakeholders play for this in the process.

The workshop is targeted at transport and policy experts, decision-makers in transport and urban planning, practitioners and academics of public policy from Germany, Asia, and beyond. A number of prominent public policy figures and leaders from Asia and the world are invited to address and debate with the audience. In order to register, please email Miss Ruth Mellonat (rmellon@trl.co.uk).

For more information on content and location please consult the program here.

Transport is included in NAMA submissions

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:56:48 +0000

The Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) submitted by non-Annex I country Parties to the UNFCCC by the 31st of January were published on 2nd February 2010. The Bridging the Gap Initiative is analysing these submissions from a transport perspective. After a first view 11 out of the 20 Parties that made submissions made direct reference to the transport sector (inlc. E.g. Costa Rica, Indonesia, Singapore, Jordan, Republic of Congo, Moroco et. al.). The analysis will be available in the next few days.
For more information see transport2012.org

URGENT ACTION – Formulating NAMAs in the Transport Sector

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:02:54 +0000

The Copenhagen Accord allows developing country parties to submit Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) i.e. low carbon policies to Annex 2 of the Accord until January 31. The Bridging the Gap Initiative has now published a guidance document for parties on transport NAMAs.

Download on the Bridging the Gap-Webpage

Key Messages of the annual Transforming Transportation conference

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:15:00 +0000

On Friday, January 15, 2010, 180 transport and climate change experts from local and national governments, multi-lateral development agencies, academic institutions, nonprofits and private companies gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss “Next Steps After Copenhagen: Opportunities and Challenges in the Transport Sector” as part of the annual Transforming Transportation conference.

Download Key Messages here

The full-day event, held at the Inter-American Development Bank headquarters, came one month after the international community met in Copenhagen to negotiate the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol and a new international climate agreement on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The event was jointly organized by the Asian Development Bank, EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport.

The day’s events, hosted at IDB’s Enrique Iglesias Auditorium, provided a forum for the transport, climate and development communities to discuss the following topics:

How the transport community can best engage in solving the challenges caused by climate change;

Connections between climate change and other drivers of transport interventions in developing countries;

Outcomes of the Climate Conference in Copenhagen and significance for national and local policy making in the transport sector.

Organizers drafted key messages that will help inform the following initiatives, including:

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) discussion and policy guidelines on sustainability in the transport sector;

The Regional Environmental Sustainable Transportation Strategy of the Inter-American Development Bank;

The 2010-2011 work plan for the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport.

Key Messages:

#1: Climate change mitigation efforts need to address emissions from the transport sector in developing countries in order to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050, a target suggested by the IPCC and referred to by the Copenhagen Accord.

#2: Decision making in the transport sector should consider multiple policy objectives in support of sustainable development, including adaptation to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, economic and social development, congestion relief, road safety, air quality and health.

#3: Countries can take important steps towards sustainable, low carbon transportation now, before the international community reaches a new international climate agreement or revised Kyoto Protocol. Leading developing countries and cities have initiated efforts to make their transport sectors less carbon intensive or, in some cases, completely carbon neutral.

#4: The allocation of transport-related funds requires a paradigm shift. The guiding principle in future transport funding should be the Avoid-Shift-Improve approach. A better understanding of the mitigation potential in the transport sector will speed up the formulation of more comprehensive investment strategies. Externalities, such as air pollution and carbon emissions, must be addressed through comprehensive pricing policies. And financing from different sources – i.e. nonprofits, multi-lateral development agencies, governments, and the private sector – need to complement each other, rather than work towards different goals. As a large and fast-growing source of carbon emissions, the transport sector should have access to financing under international climate change agreements, in order to spur mitigation activities.

#5: There should be more financial support directed towards enabling and preparatory activities, rather than simply investing in transport systems and infrastructure alone. Sector-wide programs can significantly complement individual projects, and they should include a bundle of measures, instead of isolated interventions, to make transport projects more sustainable.

#6: Adaptation needs to be mainstreamed in the transportation sector. Knowledge, tools and methodologies to address climate change adaptation must be developed, tested, scaled up and mainstreamed quickly into the transportation sector. There is also a need to identify synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation activities, which should work in conjunction with each other as part of an overall transportation strategy.

To view more details about the event, including the full agenda, Powerpoint presentations, speaker bios and photos, go to www.transformingtransportation2010.org.