Online Resources of Voluntary Commitment

Scaling Up Sustainable Transport Solutions Worldwide Voluntary Commitment envisions that by 2016, 200+ cities in mostly emerging economies will substantially adopt high-quality sustainable mobility and urban development.

Global performance goals include:

• 10+ game-changing policies or projects
• 50+ cities directly impacted
• 200+ cities influenced

Plan of Action

Through a network of country-focused centers for sustainable transport, EMBARQ will propel this movement at local, national and international levels through the following three approaches:

• Deliver game-changer solutions in cities: Catalyze and help implement replicable solutions that set precedent, shift paradigms, and create new standards, with extraordinary influence across an entire country, region, or the globe.
• Replicate best practices to 200+ cities via deep and broad engagements: EMBARQ will spur adoption of best practices via targeted technical assistance and broad capacity building to local and national decision-makers.
• Shift International Policy to prioritize sustainable transport, urban development, and climate change mitigation through transport: Convene international agencies through major conferences, original independent research, and other partnerships, to prioritize sustainable mobility solutions. Then connect international policy to national regulation and local projects, by convening decision-makers at all levels.

Deliverables

• 3.1 billion hours of travel time saved by 2016
• 11.8 billion person-trips served by 2016
• 6.7 million tons of CO2 emissions avoided by 2016
• 4,217 lives saved by 2016

Allocated Resources

• Financing: $76,000,000
• Staff & Technical Expertise: EMBARQ network in Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Turkey. Contributions by Dutch public, UNCRD and private parties for providing assistance and capacity building

Global Performance Goals

• 1 game-changer (policy or projects)
• 37 cities directly impacted
• 83 cities influenced

Update of Progress (As of June, 2014)

• 1.1 billion hours of travel time saved
• 5.2 billion person-trips served
• 2.8 million tons of CO2 emissions avoided
• 1,468 lives saved

EMBARQ is involved in:

• Providing guidance for high-quality implementation of BRT and bus systems in Brazil (here and here);
• Innovative projects in India, such as organizing auto-rickshaws and building support for non-motorized transport through car-free Sunday “Raaghiri Day” (here and here);
• Implementing Bike Lab projects to improve cycling facilities in 5 major cities in Turkey (here);
• Supporting Low Carbon Development strategies in 3 cities in China (here);
• Reforming local regulations in Mexico to encourage transit-oriented development (here and here).
• More information at EMBARQ.org

Next Step of Implementation

EMBARQ is scaling up its global impact through demonstration projects, influence on national funding and planning programs, and on the portfolios of the multilateral development banks. EMBARQ continues to provide technical guidance and research to support best practices and high quality implementation. More at EMBARQ.org

Focal Person

Holger Dalkmann (hdalkmann@wri.org)