The One Planet Summit, organised by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, concluded that decarbonisation of all modes of transport by 2050, in line with the well below 2 Degree Target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change is possible but will require action now to enable a comprehensive transformation of this key sector in the decades to come. 

Speakers cautioned that failure to act on transport will put the Paris Agreement at risk as without rapid and ambitious mitigation action, transport emissions could more than double by 2050. Such increased CO2 emissions would have important collateral impacts on the health of especially urban populations arising from local pollution and increased fatalities and would seriously compromise the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

A Global Macro Roadmap Outlining an Actionable Vision towards Decarbonised, Resilient Transport, developed by the Paris Process on Mobility and Climate (PPMC) in consultation with the transport community, was presented at the One Planet Summit. The Global Macro Roadmap indicates that cost effective solutions for decarbonisation passenger and freight transport are available and have been tested at scale. Concerted national and urban policies, together with business actions, are required to avoid unnecessary trips, shift to efficient modes, and improve vehicles and fuels.

The Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, emphasized the need for international coordination in order to accelerate the deep decarbonisation of the mobility and transport sector. He recalled the launch of the TDA, a month ago in Bonn, and the important first major TDA meeting that will take place in Lisbon in February 2018. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands stated “The Netherlands believes that ambition and action on transport and climate change is needed. It will require joint leadership to transform transport and mobility. We therefore actively support the TDA and call on business leaders to step forward and work together with us on clean solutions”. John Hickenlooper, Governor of the State of Colorado announced the partnership of 8 US States on electric vehicles. Jean-Dominique Sénard (CEO Michelin) and Carlos Ghosn (CEO Renault-Nissan) highlighted the commitment of the industry to move ahead in decarbonising transport and the importance of a collaborative work to increase visibility for investors.

The TDA is a coalition of frontrunners on transport and climate change, including Countries, local authorities (Cities, Transport authorities, Regions) and companies to foster an in-depth transformation of mobility in support of the Paris Climate Agreement, alongside the Roadmap developed by PPMC. TDA’s members are resolutely committing to a transport decarbonisation and zero emission mobility dynamics, in order to reach the global goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 more quickly. As an avant-garde, TDA will act as a strong voice for ambitious action on transport and climate change in the Talanoa Dialogue, launched at COP23.

The Transport Decarbonisation Alliance was initiated by the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Portugal and France together with Michelin, Alstom and Itaipu Binacional.

On the road to the One Planet Summit, Sweden, the City of Paris, the State of Colorado, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, SNCF, Ernst&Young (EY), Géodis and Renault-Nissan have announced their support for the TDA. In addition, the International Transport Forum and the International Energy Agency, welcomed the TDA and expressed their readiness to collaborating with TDA, based on their respective tools and activities.

While closing the summit, President Macron fully included TDA as one of the 12 commitments, outcomes of the works pursued during the day.

The first meeting of the Transport Decarbonisation Alliance, hosted by the Government of Portugal, will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, February 27th and 28th, 2018 to discuss its work-plan and institutionalisation, with a view to contributing to worldwide mobilisation on the crucial issue of transport and climate change.

Note to editors:

For more information on the TDA and its objectives contact:

• Patrick Oliva, co-founder PPMC, m.patrick.oliva@gmail.com, tel. +33 607894075
• Holger Dalkmann, co-chair Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT), hdalkmann@sustain2030.net, tel. +49 172 4388567
• Paulina POTEMSKI, French Ministry for Ecological and Solidary Transition, paulina.potemski@developpement-durable.gouv.fr, tel +33 1 40 81 82 89