Transport reform is crucial to limiting the worst effects of climate change 

Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change drew global attention by providing fresh and overwhelming evidence about the urgency of the climate situation. According to the agency’s latest report, global temperatures will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels within the next 12 years—unless we act now.

Transport bears a huge responsibility in the current situation: the sector contributes to nearly a quarter of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and 18% of all manmade emissions in the global economy. Under a business-as-usual scenario, this figure will continue rising to reach 1/3 of all emissions by 2040.

This means cutting emissions from transport will be central to solving the climate equation. To kickstart this process, the Sustainable Mobility for All initiative (Sum4All) just released a preliminary Global roadmap of action towards sustainable mobility that lays out concrete policy measures for a healthier transport future. Our coalition of 55 leading public and private organizations looks at all dimensions of sustainability: safety, efficiency, equitable access, and, of course, environmental impact.

As global leaders head to Poland for the COP24 Climate Conference, now is a good time to identify the most effective solutions for lowering the carbon footprint of transport. In that spirit, we encourage all interested parties to provide input and feedback on SuM4All’s Roadmap of Action: Which policy interventions do you think should be prioritized? Are there any critical measures that are missing from the proposal? How can the private sector be part of the solution?


As we gather contributions from public and private stakeholders around the world, here’s where the conversation on transport and climate stands so far:

Waste-to-energy technologies offer a promising alternative to more traditional renewable energy. Organic materials, such as food scraps and green waste are broken down via anaerobic digestion and turned into gas, fertilizer, and fuel. The city of Sacramento, for example, is already using waste to power commuter and school buses. Application to the aviation industry is also under development. These alternative technologies open up a range of new possibilities to reduce fossil fuel consumption and production, create shorter energy supply chains, and make the most of locally available resources. There are, however, important technological obstacles to overcome, and scalability remains a question mark.

The current discussion on the future of mobility focuses largely on the potential of innovations like electric and autonomous vehicles. These technologies certainly have a key part to play in reducing emissions, yet they still favor a car-centric vision of mobility that does not address other adverse consequences like traffic congestion, noise, or air pollution. To make transport truly sustainable, we cannot just run the same old system with a cleaner engine. Future generations deserve a bolder, richer transport conversation that looks at all possible solutions simultaneously—including the toughest ones—from cleaner energy to demand management, behavior change, and virtual mobility.