New York, NY — The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), together with an international committee of transportation and development experts, awarded Mexico City the 2013 Sustainable Transport Award for its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, cycling and walking infrastructure, parking program, and revitalization of public space.
Established in 2005, the Sustainable Transport Award recognizes leadership and visionary achievements in sustainable transportation and urban livability, and is presented to a city each January for achievements in the preceding year.
More public buses with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will soon be deployed on the roads of major cities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) helps bus operators shift their fleets to cleaner fuel. ADB has earmarked $275 million for up to five top-tier financial leasing companies in PRC to finance leased buses that run on cleaner fuel – such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) – as well as electric and hybrid buses.
Last week at the COP 18 in Doha nine new so called lighthouse projects were revealed in an award ceremony attended by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. We are proud that two SLoCaT members: ITDP and CEPT Ahmedabad were among the winners. The inclusion of the Guangzhou and Ahmedabad BRTs shows how BRT is coming of age.
Last week on the 19th of November 2012, the Missions of the Kingdoms of Netherlands and Thailand in cooperation with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) hosted a meeting attended by over 25 UN Missions to discuss issues related to sustainable transport in the context of the Post-2015 development agenda and the Secretary General’s Action Plan on Sustainable Transport. The meeting also served as a brainstorming session to test the interest of missions to the UN to two ideas presented by H.E.
This report evaluates the historical and potential impact of transportation policies on worldwide oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Policies adopted and formally announced since 2000 will have dramatic effects: reductions of 14 percent in global oil consumption and 7 percent in global economy-wide GHG emissions below the IEA’s projected 2030 levels.
Fifty participants from 20 African countries convened at UN Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters for the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) regional launch in Africa. Motivated by high rates of vehicle growth in Africa, the workshop aimed to identify policy shortcomings and the need to monitor vehicle import trends as a strategy to promote fuel efficient cars.
Participants considered the results from two GFEI country pilots in Kenya and Ethiopia, which demonstrated the potential for African countries to take advantage of improvements in the vehicle fuel economy.
In January 2012, Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-moon announced that the post-2015 framework for sustainable development would be an important priority in the Action Agenda for his second term. Transport was listed as one of six building blocks for sustainable development.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (20 June, 2012)—The eight largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) announced today that they will invest US$175 billion to finance more sustainable transportation systems over the coming decade, boosting equitable economic development and protecting the environment and public health across the developing world. The pledge by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and six other MDBs was made at the start of United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as Rio+20).