From Insight to Impact. Together
Seizing Opportunities in a Crisis Era
Between 2023 and 2025, some progress has been made towards more inclusive, sustainable, low-carbon, and resilient transport across modes and governance levels, from global commitments to national and sub-national action. Yet today’s transport systems continue to leave billions of people behind, restrict opportunities for marginalised communities, perpetuate inequalities among countries, and drive emissions, air pollution and fossil fuel dependence.
Overall, the trajectory of transport transformations remains off track for achieving a sustainable transport future. Despite growing recognition of transport’s central role in climate and development agendas, current efforts are insufficient to deliver a sustainable transport future at the pace and scale required. At the same time, the urgency – and the benefits – of decisive action have never been greater.
Ten years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2025 represents a critical infection point. The global community has reached the halfway mark to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is preparing for the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Transport. This moment signals a shift from commitment to implementation, demanding long-term vision, coordinated action and difficult choices.
In 2024, SLOCAT published Transport in a Crisis Era: Seizing Opportunities for a Just, Sustainable Transformation. The paper is a critical overview of GSR4 findings, offering actionable insights at the intersection of transport, climate, sustainability, and social justice. It highlights how progress over the past two years sets the stage for further sustainable transport action, while underscoring persistent transport inequality as a barrier to shared prosperity. The analysis further demonstrates how transport remains a major and growing source of emissions and is increasingly exposed to climate and systemic risks.
The paper also issues a clear warning: as crises become the new normal, mounting headwinds threaten to slow or reverse progress. In response, it calls on leaders to act decisively and without delay to steer transport systems and services onto just, low-carbon, sustainable and resilient pathways.
Complementing this analysis, Transport by the Numbers presents a concise snapshot of the most striking data and trends shaping the sector, translating complex evidence into accessible insights. Together, these publications support policymakers and other actors in understanding the scale of the challenge, the urgency of action, and the critical levers needed to transform transport systems and services for people and the planet.