The SLoCaT partnership and the Bridging the Gap initiative have released the final draft of the “Warsaw Statement on Low Carbon Transport and Sustainable Development”. The Warsaw Statement is now open for endorsements by organizations or individuals.

The Warsaw Statement contains recommendations on how to strengthen the integration of sustainable, low carbon transport in the UNFCCC  process, especially the new global agreement on climate change. Negotiations on the new climate agreement started following agreement on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action in Durban, South Africa in 2011, where the global community decided to develop a new global climate change agreement.  A review of this meeting and the following COP and the implications for land transport can be found in the following two reports; The Doha Gateway and Did Durban Deliver? It is envisaged that the new global climate agreementwill be reached by 2015 and that it will come in force by 2020.

The Warsaw Statement was developed through a collaborative process by representatives of sustainable transport and development institutions around the world.  Upon adoption, the Warsaw Statement will be sent to the UNFCCC Executive Director Christiana Figueres and the UNFCC Secretariat, the national focal points and the chairs of the main negotiating groups on Monday 18th November.  It will be shared with the press and disseminated during any possible transport side events in week 2 of COP 19. The Warsaw Statement will also be widely circulated in the wider international community in respect to the development of a Sustainable Development Goal and SLoCaT’s input into the Open Working Group next January. 

We call on all to widely disseminate the Warsaw Statement and to encourage a wide range of organizations and individuals to endorse the Warsaw Statement.

Please see here for full-text of the Warsaw Statement.