By Maruxa Cardama, Secretary General of SLOCAT 

As the curtain fell on COP29, I was left with a mix of frustration and resolve. This year’s climate talks failed to deliver substantive outcomes on critical fronts such as scaling up climate finance, advancing a global goal on adaptation, operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund, and enhancing directives for countries to set ambitious emissions reductions in their next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0). 

⭆ Read the Analysis of Transport Outcomes at COP29  by the SLOCAT secretariat (Overview  I  Detailed Analysis).

COP29 has been described by some credible voices as “one of the most challenging COPs in recent memory” and “brutal”. I agree, the process conducted by the Azerbaijani presidency and the (missed) outcomes by countries underscore this sentiment. COP29 was brutal because it widened the mistrust between the so-called Global North and Global South; a dangerous fissure in a world that needs unity in multilateralism to address interconnected global challenges like climate change. Brutal because it revealed, once again, that incumbent interest and policy inertia – for instance fossil fuel interests – remain barriers to progress. Brutal because the heavy political nature of the COP process, where financial and technological resources are wielded as leverage, highlights how far we are from achieving true climate justice.

For the transport sector—responsible for nearly a quarter of global emissions, heavily reliant on fossil fuels, and facing the largest investment gap towards decarbonisation—the underwhelming global ambition displayed by countries at COP29 is bad news. This moment is a crossroads. More than ever, the global transport community must urgently advocate for and enable government, business, investor and community action to achieve sustainable transport. 

Bridging the Gap Between COP29 and Transport Decarbonisation 

The outcomes of COP29 reflect that the international climate process is both a mirror of a global architecture of power in decay and of global decarbonisation actions that lag behind what science demands.

COP29 did not send a strong signal on the imperative of rapidly reducing transport’s emissions. While COP28 in Dubai saw agreement on reducing road emissions and transitioning away from fossil fuels, COP29 failed to reaffirm these goals. The just transition discussion was deferred to Bonn sessions in June 2025, postponing essential steps to support workers and communities.

Countries must not allow COP29’s lack of ambition to derail their NDCs 3.0, which are due by 2025. The decision on the First Global Stocktake adopted at COP28 recommended countries to take action in “accelerating the reduction of emissions from road transport on a range of pathways, including through development of infrastructure and rapid deployment of zero- and low-emission vehicles”. In 2023, SLOCAT and REN21 with more than 60 multi-stakeholder signatories, including Chile and Colombia, launched the #FossilFreeTransport Call to Action to double the share of energy-efficient and fossil-free forms of land transport by 2030. COP29 saw the launch of the Avoid and Shift Breakthrough, which, under the 2030 Breakthrough Agenda by the Climate Champions, amplifies the target of the Call to Action and hence complements the Zero Emission Vehicle Breakthrough focusing on vehicle electrification that was launched at COP26 Glasgow. COP29 also launched the Multi-Sectoral Actions Pathway (MAP) to Sustainable, Climate-Resilient, and Healthy Cities, which includes “a vision for a low-carbon transport system, promoting public transport, safe active mobility options, and the electrification of private and public vehicle fleets, supported by digital solutions.”

To meet the decarbonisation imperative, in their NDCs 3.0 countries must prioritise shifts to public transport, walking, cycling and rail freight, as well as the rapid deployment of low-emission and electric vehicles and railways; while also drastically scaling up the consumption of renewable energy and zero emission energy sources. 2025 is crucial for deploying effective multilateral and multi-stakeholder cooperation in support of accelerating national and sub-national transport policies, strengthening planning and implementation capacities, and enabling the necessary just transition and support to transport workers and communities affected by the transition away from fossil fuels in energy and transport. 

⭆ Read Action for Ambition, our analysis on second generation NDCs action on #FossilFreeTransport, and opportunities to leverage synergies with the sustainability agenda. 

⭆ Explore our Compendium of Policies and Investments for Freight Transport and Logistics

Finance: The Persistent Bottleneck Despite the Substantial Transport Investment Needs

The last-minute agreement landed by developed countries to contribute USD 300 billion annually to climate finance by 2035 does represent three times the current level. Yet it falls very short of the USD +1.3 trillion required and could leave the transport sector struggling for the levels of investment needed to transform it. 

As Panama’s climate envoy rightly pointed out: “We hear that the developing countries’ proposal for $1.3 trillion a year for the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance is extreme and unreasonable. Let me tell you what is extreme and unreasonable—spending USD 7 trillion on fossil fuel subsidies”.

Transport currently receives 29% of climate finance, yet has the largest investment gap among all sectors. Clean transport solutions will cost an estimated USD 2.7 trillion annually between now and 2050, seven times the current spending. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) require at least USD 550 billion annually until 2050 but current investments are only USD 15 billion, or only 2.7% of what is needed. The total cost could be even greater when considering the financial needs for workforce development, adaptation, and the expenses associated with extreme events.

The Baku to Belém Roadmap on Climate Finance agreed at COP29 and to be developed in the run up to next year’s COP30 Bélem should recognise the value of multi-stakeholder exchange and learning for a just transition across all sectors, including transport, and take concrete decisions to enable it in a structured manner. Sustainable transport experts can play an important advisory role in shaping eligibility criteria and a consistent framework for sustainable, low-carbon transport within climate finance.

During COP29, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) unveiled projections of USD 170 billion in annual climate finance. Many transport systems in LMICs are still under development, making this decade a critical window to avoid inefficient investments and future costly retrofitting. The deployment of this MDBs’ pledge must serve to consolidate and scale up the investments in sustainable, low-carbon transport that MDBs have been progressively increasing.

Promising mechanisms like global levies on international aviation and shipping remain stalled by opposition, underscoring the deep-rooted challenges of mobilising climate finance. According to France’s President Emmanuelle Macron, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Motley and Kenya’s President Williiam Ruto, who spearhead the 13-member countries Global Solidarity Levies Task Force: “There are swaths of the economy which are largely under-taxed yet polluting the planet. This applies to maritime shipping, aviation, and, of course, the fossil-fuel industry.” This Task Force calculates that “a levy on shipping of USD 100 per ton of CO2 could raise USD 80 billion per year” and “a levy on fossil-fuel extraction of USD 5 per ton of CO2 could raise USD 210 billion per year.”

In the run up to April 2025, when countries are due to take a decision at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on the proposed carbon levy per tonne of shipping. we need clarity on the extent to which fossil fuel subsidies in transport are a hurdle to transforming at scale the way in which people and goods are moved and how transport systems are powered. 

Adaptation and Resilience: Neglected Priorities 

Transport’s vulnerability to climate change urges comprehensive adaptation and resilience measures, yet COP29 made little progress in this area. Under the current policy scenario, the sector risks a near total (97.8%) infrastructure loss by 2050, the most severe of any sector. The thematic targets and indicators to be developed under the Baku Adaptation Roadmap agreed at COP29 must include transport infrastructure.

Natural hazards inflict an estimated USD 15 billion in annual damages to transport systems – with LMICs bearing around USD 8 billion, the highest costs relative to GDP. Beyond loss of lives and livelihoods and physical damage to transport assets, transport disruptions caused by natural hazards have very severe impacts on a country’s economic development and connectivity. In LMICs, these disruptions lead to an estimated USD 107 billion in annual losses to businesses. Yet COP29 made no progress in the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund and negotiations were postponed to the Bonn sessions in June 2025. Sustained advocacy will be paramount to securing an adequate response package for transport in the Fund.

⭆ Read Action for Finance, our set messages on climate finance for transport developed in collaboration with the World Resources Institute. 

COP30: An Opportunity to Sharpen the Engagement of the Global Transport Community

“COP30 will be the COP of COPs” said Marina Silva, Environment Minister of Brazil, at the closing of COP29. Besides marking the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement, COP30 will also mark nine years since transport was recognised as a key economic sector for implementing the targets of the Paris Agreement, through the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action. But COP30 will also take place on the eve of the start of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport, set to launch in January 2026. 

⭆ Read SLOCAT’s Latest Inputs to the UN Process Towards the UN Decade.

To sharpen our collective engagement as global transport community, I propose four building blocks: 

• Capacity Building for NDCs 3.0 – Most NDCs 3.0 are expected over Summer 2025. To help countries maximise the use of the NDCs guidelines released over the past months by key transport actors, including ITF, GNPT, PATH Initiative, UITP and UIC, as well as the 2030 Breakthrough Agenda by the Climate Champions, it will be important to deliver structured and synergistic outreach and dialogue with countries.

⭆ Check out our NDCs 3.0 Library, an ongoing compilation of guidelines, tools and resources by different transport organisations to increase transport ambition in the next round of NDCs.

• Political Impact – From climate finance and the Loss and Damage Fund to the just transition; from mitigation ambition to the adaptation goal, transport must be present in the official COP30 discussions and negotiations among countries. Building on the growing momentum of transport ministerial meetings successfully convened by COP presidencies and ITF since COP26, it is time to evolve these gatherings into platforms that convey political messages to COP negotiation rooms and deliver actionable outcomes. The Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action must further refocus on its original mandate: connecting stakeholders and countries (non-party stakeholders and parties, in UNFCCC terminology) in a structured and consistent manner throughout the year. 

• Stocktake and Implementation Outlook – Let us use 2025 to reflect on the impact of these ten years of the Paris Agreement on transport policies, actions and investments, and the UNFCCC processes and public-private-partnerships needed to accelerate them for all transport modes and sub-sectors – as the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport unfolds.
• Cohesive COP30 Presence – Elevating transport’s profile at a Transport Pavilion in the Blue Zone could provide a cohesive, high-profile space to showcase transport solutions to our shared climate challenges, emphasising cross-sectoral integration. However, the undeniable resource-intensive endeavour of organising a pavilion at COP would only make sense if we are willing to break out of our transport sectoral and modal silos and integrate transport decarbonisation, adaptation and resilience into broader development, equity, jobs, industry, energy or health actions, to name a few. 

The Way Forward: Resolve for Action

COP29 was a sobering reminder of what is at stake. Nearly a decade after the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development the world has seen rising inequalities and intensifying nationalisms. Both are putting unprecedented strain on the implementation of these global agendas which were designed to uplift collective action.

If we are to achieve the transformative change needed in the face of climate change and secure a just transition, we must dismantle the political and structural barriers that hold us back across the different sectors of our economies, including transport. 2025 is a critical window for ensuring that freight and passenger transport are adequately addressed both as major contributor to the problem and a vital part of the solution.

Let’s make it count.