Transport and Climate Change

2016-Critical Year for Climate Change

2016 was a critical year for climate change, as the need to translate the political consensus of COP21 into tangible steps toward implementation of the Paris Agreement has never been more urgent. With the rate of global temperature increase exceeding most climate models, with political shockwaves from the United States threatening to disrupt progress in pre- 2020 action on climate change, and with a pressing need for agreement on the rulebook for the Paris Agreement, COP22 in Marrakech had a high bar to clear for producing actionable outcomes.

Further action on Transport and Climate Change will benefit greatly from the "Marrakech Action Proclamation for our Climate and Sustainable Development" that was adopted by the Heads of State and Government meeting in Marrakech and that calls on "all non-state actors to join us for immediate and ambitious action and mobilization, building on their, important achievements" as well as the "Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action" (MPGCA) launched at COP22, which outlines a more sustained and meaningful engagement of non-State actors in the UNFCCC process.

Transport & Climate Change

Transport sector is responsible for 23% of the greenhouse gas emissions and any global attempt at limiting global average temperature rise to less than 2°C without including transport sector will not be successful. In alignment with its missions, the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) promotes the integration of sustainable transport in global policies on climate change. As a part of its work stream on transport and climate change, the SLoCaT Partnership is tracking climate negotiations from a transport perspective and since 2013 has been organizing annual Transport Day Events during COP meetings. The SLoCaT Partnership played a key role in bringing together transport commitments at the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit in September 2014. In addition, SLoCaT Partnership monitored the negotiations during COP21 and COP22 and did so from a transport perspective. For more information on climate change related activities of the SLoCaT Partnership, please see following links:

SLoCaT Transport GHG Emissions Database and Analyses

Under the PPMC Initiative, SLoCaT is creating a knowledge base to assist both internal and external partners (e.g. national ministries and international supporting entities) in defining transport targets and implementing mitigation strategies. This knowledge base is captured in a set of knowledge products that are designed to add value to existing UNFCCC reporting protocols by emphasizing transport-specific elements and incorporating expertise from funding agencies and research institutions.

The proposed knowledge base is divided into two primary areas: Transport Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions-Related Databases, and Transport GHG Emissions Analysis and Reports, each of which are to be composed of a number of existing and forthcoming knowledge products. These knowledge products can be utilized individually or in combination to help achieve national transport mitigation objectives:

A detailed outline and objectives of the existing and forthcoming knowledge products are presented in the GHG methodological note.

To guide the SLoCaT Partnership in its ongoing work on transport sector GHG analysis, it is intended to establish a review panel of external experts. The review panel can also play a role in recommending research directions after COP21. If you are interested to participate in the review panel, please contact Karl Peet at karl.peet@slocatpartnership.org.