SLOCAT Transformations for Sustainable,
Low Carbon Land Transport

Transport policy must always put people first, both in the passenger and freight sectors. While some technologies can be tempting for their ingenuity, they may be expensive, not match societies’ needs, and lead to increased inequity and inequality. Sound policy-making should therefore not ask what is technologically possible, but how technology can improve equity in access to sustainable low-carbon transport and mobility.

A compelling vision of the future is a strong driver for mobilising and aligning stakeholders around a common objective. It gives coherence to different measures; links action in the present to specific positive outcomes in the future, and illustrates the benefits of an equitable, healthy, green, and resilient transport system. To inform, engage  and inspire people and to develop a shared sense of ownership, participatory approaches and discussion among a broad community of stakeholders is necessary. Breaking the vision down into intermediate targets enables progress to be achieved and measured, while demonstrating determination. 

Stakeholders and investors require clarity to plan their actions and investments accordingly. Therefore, policy must send clear market signals and provide a reliable and stable framework to support the evolution of a sustainable mobility sector. For example, changes in pricing, regulation, and political priorities need to be communicated ahead of time, and transitory phases need to be defined. With clarity and coherence, businesses can contribute to and benefit from new sustainable transport solutions.

Efficient transport systems should have a coherent set of policies across sub-sectors and modes, benefit from complementarity of policies in other sectors. Transport policy impacts and is impacted by policies in many other sectors, coordinated policy means lower costs and more and faster impact.  Priority areas include health, urban planning and rural development, energy, among others and should be aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (see SDG Wheel above).

The overall shift towards sustainable and inclusive societies  requires a broader perspective than the traditional cost-benefit analyses of the past. Accounting for social and environmental externalities (both positive and negative) in economic appraisals is crucial to overcoming short-termism and one-sided decision-making. Looking at investments through this lens will enable funds to flow to solutions that have the biggest return in terms of social and environmental development – now and for future generations – and deliver the greatest benefit at the lowest cost for society as a whole.

Governments’ responsibilities for the transport sector are spread across the national, regional and local levels. While transport decisions are often made at the local level, the legal framework for local decision-making is many times defined at the national level or even international level. Transport services and policies must be compatible and strategically integrated from the local to the national, in some cases even international level. Therefore, a large number of stakeholders, both public and private, need to be engaged and aligned vertically and horizontally, and empowered with the capacities and resources needed to take the right action.

Sustainable, low carbon transport requires new capacities and knowledge to act and data to support good decision-making. The transformation of the sector must therefore be accompanied by support for enhanced capacity in the public, private and academic sectors, through activities such as professional training, decision making support and adapted curricula. International support, for example, can contribute to building capacity and knowledge at the national and sub-national levels in streamlining approaches to collect, share and analyse data. Together, capacity, knowledge and data can serve as a solid basis to inform decision-makers and catalyse the transformation of transport.

Pilots are a great way to test new ideas, learn through experience and adapt solutions to the local context. At a relatively low cost through temporal measures (e.g. tactical urbanism), decision-makers and users can see their effects and act accordingly. With increasing support and acceptance, new solutions can then be rolled out at scale more easily. It is crucial, however, to choose and design pilots that have the potential for scaling up, and prepare a plan accordingly.