Mobilising cities to change transport

The transport sector is responsible for around a quarter of CO2 emissions worldwide. The biggest energy consumer in 40 per cent of countries, the transport sector thus needs to be radically transformed if international climate goals are to be met. This is also the conclusion of a study published today entitled ‘Transport for under two degrees: the way forward’. The study was conducted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH together with the World Economic Forum and Agora Verkehrswende on behalf of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office (AA). The study recommends actions to still meet the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global temperature increase to two degrees. It states that a closer cooperation between the transport sector and the energy and trade sectors is vital.

Recommendations include switching to low-emission energy sources, ramping up prices for CO2 emissions and introducing stricter rules for high-carbon transport systems. In addition, the study also focuses on the role of local public transport which, alongside sustainable urban planning, is regarded as the “backbone” of climate-friendly transport in cities.  

Eco-friendly urban transport is something that GIZ has been working towards for many years now. On behalf of the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) and the European Commission, it is engaged, for example, in the international transport initiative Mobilise Your City. GIZ has been implementing this initiative jointly with France’s development agency (Agence Française de Développement) since 2015, supporting cities and countries around the globe to make climate-friendly transport policy a reality. It has already mobilised some 60 partner cities with a total headcount of more than 75 million people in 27 countries to commit to climate protection targets for urban transport and to roll out corresponding measures. 
 
In 2019 alone, eight local and three national plans for sustainable mobility in cities were concluded, enabling 811 million euros to be channelled into the expansion of public transport systems. And access to local public transport has been improved for more than 6 million people.