Mexico City BRT system alongside heavy traffic.
Greater knowledge sharing, integrated approaches and the need to think differently to solve the sustainability challenges of cities were among the issues highlighted by many participants at the opening of Transforming Transportation 2016, an international gathering of the transport community here today.
Taking place just one month after the Paris climate talks, the annual conference, co-hosted by the World Bank and EMBARQ, the urban mobility initiative of the World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, put a particular focus on the role of transport and cities in tackling climate change.
Speaking in the opening plenary, Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), highlighted the growing role and commitment from Mayors in the fight against climate change, and the need for integrated city and transport planning.
“Cities are the key to a sustainable future,” said Ishii, who also underlined the importance of helping Mayors to ensure long term sustainability, and the exchange of ideas. “Last year, in cooperation with the World Bank, the GEF launched a new sustainable cities program that will initially work in 23 cities, in 11 developing countries,” she said.
As part of the program, a Global Knowledge Platform will provide access to cutting-edge tools for countries and cities to pursue aspirations for creating smart and sustainable cities of the future.
In introductory remarks to today’s conference, Pierre Guislain, Senior Director for the Transport and Information & Communications Technology Global Practice of the World Bank stressed the need for more radical action, not business as usual. “We need to move ahead on implementation, mobilize finance to tackle congestion, pollution and safety,” he said.
The Paris Agreement, agreed upon by 195 nations last December, recognizes the central role that cities and transport can have in the fight against climate change. Transport accounts for 23% of global energy-related emissions, and is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Cities meanwhile, contribute 80% of GDP yet 70% of GHG emissions.
The GEF has been a long-time supporter of energy-efficient, low-carbon transport, with projects underway in 90 cities around the world, making a positive contribution to people’s everyday life by reducing local air pollution and traffic congestion.
One such example is the GEF-World Bank Mexico Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system. Using Avenida de los Insurgentes, Mexico City’s longest and busiest avenue as its first corridor, the project successfully shifted 315,000 daily passengers onto public transit. It also replaced 350 polluting buses with 97 new ones equipped with state-of-the-art exhaust systems and running on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, dramatically reducing the emissions of commutes by an estimated 47,000 tons of carbon annually.
Andrew Steer, President and CEO of WRI, highlighted the Mexico story during his opening remarks at the conference, "In Mexico, before the BRT it took people hours to get to work,” he said. “Installing a BRT system not only had a huge impact on carbon emissions, but on the quality of life of people.”
Transforming Transportation, which convenes leading transport and urban development experts from national and local governments, multilateral development banks, foundations, civil society, research institutions, and businesses from around the world, is taking place from January 14 – 15, 2016.
