Rio+20 Voluntary Commitments on Sustainable Transport

At the the Rio+20 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the SLoCaT Partnership facilited the submission of 17 Voluntary Commitments on Sustainable Transport. The Future We Want, the outcome document of Rio+20 says: “We welcome the commitments voluntarily entered into at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and throughout 2012 by all stakeholders and their networks to implement concrete policies, plans, programmes, projects and actions to promote sustainable development and poverty eradication. Six additional Voluntary Commitments were made in June 2013 on the first anniversary of Rio+20

One year after Rio+20, the Implementation of Sustainable Transport Voluntary Commitments is on track. 



Download the SLoCaT Partnership status report on sustainable transport, one year after Rio+20 “Creating Universal Access to Safe, Clean and Affordable Transport” Report.  The report outlines key challenges and opportunities on sustainable transport; reviews the implementation of the Voluntary Commitments in their first year; presents a number of additional Voluntary Commitments with a focus on measuring; and defines transport sector’s role in the post-2015 development framework.One year after Rio+ 20 the SLoCaT Partnership is happy to report that the implementation of the Rio+20 Voluntary Commitments on Sustainable Transport is on track.

For the press release of the SLoCaT Partnership and the media coverage on the “Creating Universal Access to Safe, Clean and Affordable Transport” Report please click here.

At the Rio+20 Conference, SLoCaT together with its members made 17 Voluntary Commitments to contribute to the promotion and implementation of sustainable transport and sustainable development.

On June 20 2013, members of the SLoCaT Partnership made six additional Voluntary Commitments for the coming decade. These additional commitments will help to track the sustainability of the transport sector and also contribute towards reporting on the implementation and impact of the existing Voluntary Commitments on Sustainable Transport.

The first Progress Report (2012–2013) of the MDB Working Group on Sustainable Transport shows that they are on track to meeting their pledge made at the Rio+20 Conference through their joint Commitment to Sustainable Transport. This is the first time that the eight MDBs are reporting collectively on their work in the transport sector.

Among other things, key messages in report include the following:

  • In terms of volume, the eight MDBs approved collectively more than $20 billion in financing in 2012 for transport;
  • Beyond financing, the MDBs are working to leverage change in the transport sector through capacity building, knowledge sharing and policy dialogue; and
  • The MDBs have completed the development of a common monitoring and reporting framework for transport projects, and this has been pilot-tested by several of the MDBs. Based on the adopted framework, each of the MDBs has initiated work to assess the sustainability of their transport operations

It is still possible to add more Voluntary Commitments on sustainable transport. For more information please contact cornie.huizenga[at]slocatpartnership.org