In January 2012, Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-moon announced that the post-2015 framework for sustainable development would be an important priority in the Action Agenda for his second term. Transport was listed as one of six building blocks for sustainable development. The Action Agenda indicates that on transport the Secretary General “plans to convene aviation, marine, ferry, rail, road and urban public transport providers, along with Governments and investors, to develop and take action on recommendations for more sustainable transport systems that can address rising congestion and pollution worldwide, particularly in urban areas”. A Technical Working Group was formed by the UN-DESA to propose a plan to the Executive Office of the Secretary-General by November of 2012, on how to best convene the stakeholders on sustainable transport and to make suggestions on the outputs of this process. The TWG will have its second meeting on 29-30 October 2012 in New York.

Following the successful bike ride for more sustainable transport by the UN Ambassadors on June 8, organized by the Dutch Mission to the UN and to which the SLoCaT partnership contributed, several delegations showed interest in a joint effort to promote the cause of sustainable transport and to keep it on the agenda of UN Ambassadors. One of the options under discussion is to set up a “Friends of Sustainable Transport” group among UN Ambassadors, which would function along similar lines like existing Friends groups for cities and sustainable energy. Such a “Friends of Sustainable Transport” group would be a useful instrument to promote interest in sustainable transport and awareness of its different dimensions among Delegations in New York.

A number of international consultation meetings on the integration of sustainable low carbon transport in the post 2015 Development Agenda and the post 2020 Climate Change regime are currently being planned including a possible meeting in Bali in April 2013 and in Berlin, Germany in June 2013.