The transport sector, being the fastest growing sector in terms of GHG emissions, needs to contribute more to mitigation efforts. All efforts need to be made that a new global climate agreement to be reached in December 2009 in Copenhagen reflects this message. This were 2 key outcomes from a three day meeting to build a consensus on the required policy response to the growing CO2 emissions from transport in the developing world. The meeting was attended by transportation and climate change experts, co-organized by the ADB and the Clean Air Institute and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Participants of the meeting in Bellagio

In 2006 transport accounted for 13% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) while 23% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fuel combustion were transport related. Transport related CO2 emissions are expected to increase 57% worldwide in the period 2005 – 2030, and transport in developing countries is going to contribute about 80 percent of this increase, both from passenger and freight transport. Most of the current GHG emissions in the transport sector and virtually all the expected growth in emissions come from private cars and trucks.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fourth Assessment Report has called for a 70-90% reduction of global CO_ 2 emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. Both developed and developing countries are expected to help realize these emission reductions within a framework of common but differentiated responsibilities.

The Bellagio Declaration on Transportation and Climate Change which was adopted at the end of the meeting calls upon the international climate change and transport community to embrace three key principles:

• Effective climate action is incomplete without addressing the overall system performance of the transport sector. Action to decouple economic growth and CO2 emissions needs to go beyond technological improvements and should be aimed at avoiding future emissions by reducing the need for travel through a better integration of land use and transport planning and by promoting. Transport should make use of the most efficient mode which in most cases is public transport or walking and cycling.
  
• Climate action in the transport sector should recognize co-benefits. The increase in GHG emissions from the transport sector in developing countries is inextricably linked to an overall lack of sustainability expressed by increased air pollution and noise, growing congestion and decreasing road safety. A reduction of GHG emissions from transport can only succeed though an integrated approach.
  
• More effective carbon finance mechanisms and associated procedures should catalyze sustainable transport policies, programs and projects. Such funding arrangements should build institutional and technical capacity for planning, measurement, monitoring, and evaluation and provide financial incentives for policy and program implementation proportionate to the scale of the challenge.

These three principles were further detailed in a Common Policy Framework on Transport and Climate Change in Developing countries which outlines a vision for sustainable, low carbon transport in developing countries and proposes a concrete set of recommendations for how the future climate regime can help realize it.

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See http://www.sutp.org/bellagio-declaration for text of the Declaration on Transportation and Climate Change and the Common Policy Framework on Transport and Climate Change in Developing Countries

See ADB press release - http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2009/12901-asian-climates-changes/

For additional information contact:
Cornie Huizenga
Convener Transport and Climate Change
Emai: chuizenga(at)adb(dot)org