PRESS RELEASE - The Transport Community Comes Together in Support of Accelerating Action on Climate Change #WeAreTransport

Shanghai, PRC and Paris, France 24th November, 2015

Transport is one of the fastest growing sources of CO2 world-wide and is the largest energy consuming sector in 40% of countries worldwide while being the second largest in most of the remaining countries. Action to limit global average temperature rise to less than 2°C, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) without including the transport sector is unrealistic.

Fortunately, over 90% of the countries that have declared their commitments for in their Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC) COP 21 include action on transport. Therefore it is very important that transport is well represented both in the run up to and at the COP itself. Transport must take its proper place in the negotiations in COP21 in Paris as part of the development of effective long-term climate solutions.

The transport community has been working hard on building bridges with the wider climate change community and the upcoming COP is a major opportunity to consolidate these efforts. Significant progress has been made as can be seen by the 14 Transport and Climate Initiatives that have been developed to cover all aspects of transport.

Efforts to raise the profile of Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport in the UNFCCC and COP 21 in Paris, France have come together in the Paris Process on Mobility and Climate (PPMC).  “The PPMC is an open and inclusive platform bringing all stakeholders together that have an interest in an agreement in Paris that will empower the transport sector to take effective action on transport and climate change” says Cornie Huizenga, Secretary General, of the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) and one of the conveners of the PPMC. Working with Michelin Challenge Bibendum (MCB) the PPMC includes over 200 organizations from the global development and transport communities.

“To demonstrate and further strengthen the resolve of the transport community towards accelerated action on transport and climate change and show that transport is ready to deliver on climate we have developed a social media campaign entitled WeAreTransport” says Heather Allen, COP21 outreach coordinator in the SLoCaT Partnership. ‘We will kick off with our BIG conversation on the 24th and expect to bring in views from around the world in advance of the COP”. The WeAreTransport campaign was developed in active collaboration with PPMC supporting organizations and will be launched on November 24th 2015.

The WeAreTransport campaign consists of 6 core messages to inform decision makers on the need of, and potential for, accelerated action:

1. Recognising the need to decarbonise the sector
2. Transport networks must be climate resilient and more effort is required to adapt our present infrastructure to a changing climate
3. The sector will require significant investment as economies grow to respond to the demand for improved rural and urban access as well as regional connectivity, but funds should be spent wisely taking the opportunity to develop low carbon networks
4. The transport sector is a dynamic and innovative sector, already engaged in developing new business models, testing and trialling innovations and technologies to move onto a low carbon pathway
5. Transport provides connections for people and goods and must be accessible to all – with no barriers for social status, colour or creed
6. The time is now – transport delivers an urgent and timely message to governments at COP to take action now.

The details of these messages can be found on the PPMC web site (http://ppmc-cop21.org/common-messages/) where facts and figures supporting these arguments can be found.

The conversation about Transport and Climate will be started by the Transport Community on Tuesday 24th November and will be followed through the various days of COP, including the:

• LPAA Transport Focus Day on December 3rd
• Transport Day on December 6th

For more information :

Benoit Colin, Senior Officer, Global Marketing and Communications (benoit.colin@wri.org)

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