Financing Framework for Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport

Organized By:

Co-Organized By:

The Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) in coordination with the Climate Bonds Initiative,  and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy have organized a side event during the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development’s meeting.  The event “Financing Framework for Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport” was held on July 7th (1.15 – 2.30 pm), in New York, United States. (Conference Room 5, North Lawn Building, United Nations).

Following the success experience in developing the SLoCaT Results Framework on Sustainable Transport (www.slocat.net/resultsframework), SLoCaT aims to facilitate the development of a Financing Framework for Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport.  In order for the Framework to be effective in terms of impact it will be important that it:

• Combines climate change perspective and sustainable development perspective;
• Focuses on development of infrastructure and services as well as the operation and maintenance of such infrastructure and services;
• Integrates public and private sector financing;
• Defines the specific role of Official Development Assistance (ODA) as well as Climate Financing. 

The side event focused on the following key questions:

1. What part of GHG emission reduction measure, or other sustainability measures in the transport sector, can be funded through passing on the costs to users?
2. How to re-direct public sector funding from supporting and enabling a car dominated infrastructure towards multi-modal transport infrastructure services which can reduce the modal share of car or truck based passenger and freight transport?
3. How to tap private sector as a more significant contributor to develop sustainable, low carbon transport infrastructure and services?
4. How to better leverage both public and private funding sustainable transport through sustainable transport directed ODA (e.g. MDB Rio+20 $ 175 billion Voluntary Commitment)?
5. How to make Climate Financing (e.g. Global Environment Facility, Clean Development Mechanism, Green Climate Fund) work better for the transport sector? 

Program and presentations of the side event: 

• Welcome Remarks by Representative UN-DESA and the SLoCaT Partnership;
• Short description of the SLoCaT Framework on Sustainable Transport and scoping of the proposed Financing Framework for Sustainable Transport – Cornie Huizenga, Secretary General, Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport;
• Panel discussion with:
  • “Financing Framework for Sustainable Transport: How much is needed and towards what ends?” Michael Replogle, Managing Director for Policy and Founder, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
  • “Financing Framework for Sustainable Transport” Elliott Sclar, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at Columbia University
  • Mohammad (Reza) Salamat, Senior Program Officer, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

For more information on the event, please contact Cornie Huizenga at cornie.huizenga[at]slocatpartnership.org