The Voluntary Commitments entered into at Rio+20 were a game changer and have galvanized a large range of thematic and sectoral communities, including the sustainable transport community, into action on sustainable development.

The Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport through its members and other organizations working on sustainable transport made 17 Voluntary Commitments at the Rio+20 conference to promote more sustainable transport.

Implementation of the Rio+20 Voluntary Commitments on Sustainable Transport is on track. Several of the organizations implementing the Voluntary Commitments have made use of the past year to prepare for the full implementation of their commitment. They have done so through further knowledge activities, capacity building, development of new partnerships and piloting of new activities and also the scaling up of tested approaches. 

Work under the Multilateral Development Bank $175 billion Voluntary Commitment is on track as well: In 2012, more than $17 billion was approved for projects to support transport in developing countries. In addition, an MDB “Working Group on Sustainable Transport” was established to develop harmonized definitions, indicators and reporting mechanisms. This will result in a dedicated report on the MDB Voluntary Commitment towards the end of 2013. 

This report, like the Voluntary Commitments on Sustainable Transport at the Rio+20 conference, is possible because of the engagement of a large number of organizations actively working on promoting and implementing sustainable transport. They understand that by working together, like in the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) that they are able to better implement their own respective Voluntary Commitments. At the same time, they acknowledge that it is more likely that the results of their work will be replicated and scaled up.