[sustran] New Report Announcement: Climate Summit Puts Transport on Road to 2 Degree Scenario

[Cornie Huizenga]

Dear Colleagues,

The Bridging the Gap Initiative and the Partnership on Sustainable Low
Carbon Transport released a joint report titled “Land transport’s
contribution to a 2°C target”  <http://www.slocat.net/transporttwodegree>on
the eve of the Climate Summit <http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit>organized
by Secretary Ban Ki-moon to accelerate action on climate change. One of the
key messages of the joint report is “Without transport contributing in a
significant manner to the mitigation of climate change it will not be
possible to shift to a global stabilization pathway that can keep warming
below 2 Degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”

The paper concludes that “a combination of technological and behavioural
measures could decrease final-energy demand in 2050 for urban passenger
transport by at least 55% below an IEA defined baseline of a 4o Celsius
temperature increase scenario”.

Members of the SLoCaT Partnership led four out of the five commitments on
transport <http://www.slocat.net/climatesummit> made at the Secretary
General’s Climate Summit. Under the Transport Action Area of the Climate
Summit a commitment on urban electric mobility is led by UN Habitat, the
International Railway Association (UIC) leads the railways commitment, and
the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) leads the public
transport commitment. The Global Fuel Economy Initiative leads a commitment
to improve fuel economy under the Energy Action Area, and the Climate and
Clean Air Coalition leads a Green Freight Commitment under the Industry
Action Area of the Summit.

“The transport related commitments made at the Summit, could be a turning
point for the inclusion of the transport sector in climate change policy
discussions in the UNFCCC”, says Cornie Huizenga, Secretary General of the
SLoCaT Partnership. “These initiatives are taken by key segments of the
transport sector itself. This in combination with their transformational
impact justifies a much larger role for transport in discussions on a new
global climate agreement”.

The potential significance of the transport commitments as a game changer
is well illustrated by the announcement by Pierre Mongin, CEO of RATP
Group, the public transport company for the greater Paris region, to
transform by 2025 its complete bus fleet to Zero CO2 emissions, Zero
particulate emissions and Zero noise. It is a part of the UITP commitment
for the fight against climate change.

Analysis presented in the report concludes that while absolute reductions
are required in GHG emissions from land transport in the developed OECD
economies that relative reductions in the non-OECD countries would allow
for a limited growth in absolute emissions in non-OECD countries. This will
allow these countries to expand their transport sector in support of
poverty alleviation, economic growth and social development.


A study <http://www.slocat.net/news/1299> by the University of California,
Davis and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, both
members of Bridging the Gap and SLoCaT concluded that a shift towards
low-carbon mobility could potentially result in a 40% reduction of urban
passenger transport related emissions by 2050, compared to current trends
and lead to savings of over$100 trillion in public and private spending on
transportation related expenses. This does not yet factor in the economic
impacts of co-benefits related to safety, air quality, reduced congestion
and energy security.


The Bridging the Gap and SLoCaT paper calls for comprehensive strategies to
mitigate climate change in the land transport sector that combine measures
to avoid the need for individualized motorized trips with measures to shift
passenger and freight transport to the most effective mode, while improving
the energy efficiency of fuels and vehicles.

“We are encouraged to see a growing interest in the UNFCCC in sector wide
policies and approaches in new instruments and mechanisms such as the
Intended Nationally Determined Contributions and the Nationally Appropriate
Mitigations Actions” says Heather Allen, Programme Director Sustainable
Transport in Transport Research Laboratory, UK and coordinator of the
Bridging the Gap Initiative. “It is a promising sign as well that
low-emission transport has been selected as one of four key programs in the
new Green Climate Fund” says Oliver Lah, Project Coordinator at the
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.


The paper calls for greater attention to the financing of low-carbon
transport and suggests that the ambitious GHG reductions required in
transport can only be achieved through using Climate Finance to leverage
investments from the public and private sector.


The Bridging the Gap Initiative and the SLoCaT Partnership also announced
“Transport Tackles Climate Change” as the theme for Transport Day 2014
<http://www.slocat.net/transportday2014>, which will be held on December 7th
in Lima, Peru in conjunction with the 20th Conference of Parties of the
United Framework Convention on Climate Change.


For more information, please see:


- Full-text of the report: Land Transport's contribution to a 2 Degree
target
<http://www.slocat.net/sites/default/files/u10/land_transports_contribution_to_a_2c_target_advance_draft_22_september_1.pdf>

- Executive Summary of  "Land transport’s contribution to a 2°C target
<http://www.slocat.net/sites/default/files/u10/executive_summary-land_transports_contribution_to_a_2degc_target.pdf>
"




-- 
Cornie Huizenga
Secretary General
Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT)
Far East International Plaza, B 1811
317 Xianxia Road
200051 Shanghai, China

www.slocat.net

@SLOCATcornie (twitter)
cornie777 (skype)
+862152919855 (office)
+8613901949332 (mobile)






-- 
Cornie Huizenga
Secretary General
Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT)
Far East International Plaza, B 1811
317 Xianxia Road
200051 Shanghai, China

www.slocat.net

@SLOCATcornie (twitter)
cornie777 (skype)
+862152919855 (office)
+8613901949332 (mobile)