Connections Transport & ICT Transport at COP21: 102765 Part of the Climate Change Solution Joining forces to ramp up mitigation and adaptation Jane Ebinger, Nicolas Peltier, Habiba Gitay, Carolina Monsalve, Andrew Losos, John Allen Rogers, and Nancy Vandycke 68% The case for climate action has never been stronger. Around the world, climate change is putting at risk the lives of millions of people as well as threatening many coastal cities and endangering trillion of dollars of investments in transport infrastructure and services. The share of INDCs The Twenty-First Conference of the Parties (COP21) submitted towards an to the United Nations Framework Convention on agreement under the Climate Change (UNFCCC) will bring heads of state and UNFCCC by 147 ministers to Paris at the end of November to reach a Parties to prioritize global climate agreement with far-reaching implications adaptation and for low-carbon and climate-resilient growth. Transport mitigation in is playing a greater role in COP21 than in past UNFCCC transport by conferences as a critical part of the solution: a sector 2030 that can contribute to both reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and building economy wide resilience to the impacts of climate change. In view of the sector’s potential, the heavily debated transport question is how to sustainably meet the rising global demand for greater interconnectedness and mobility. The World Bank and the seven other leading multilateral development banks have joined forces with the Paris Process for Mobility and Climate (PPMC) and the rest of the transport community to call for more action on transport and climate change. An Opportunity for Transport Actions to reduce GHG emissions and stabilize access to jobs, schools, and hospitals; and po- warming at 2 degree Celsius, as agreed inter- tentially lead to heavy economic losses. nationally in 2009, will fall short if they do not include the transport sector. Discussions have In the face of these challenges, client countries largely focused on the reduction of emissions are demanding more climate action. The 147 and mitigating the effects of climate change, but Parties to the UNFCCC have submitted Intended transport resilience is critical to the quick recov- Nationally-Determined Contributions (INDCs)1 ery of other sectors after natural disasters and ahead of COP21; of those, more than 100 priori- climate-related events. Hence, social and eco- tized transport sector for mitigation, and fewer nomic resiliency depends on adapting transport for adaptation.2 systems to better withstand climate impacts. 1 INDCs introduce a bottom-up process to define country-level miti- A vulnerable transport sector will face high costs gation and adaptation efforts that are guided by national develop- for maintenance and repair; reduce community ment priorities, equity, and common responsibility. 2 As of November 5, 2015. DECEMBER 2015 NOTE 28 Climate Finance target Call for More Action on Adaptation Multilateral development banks (MDBs) have been Developing countries are investing massively in delivering finance for climate action. From 2011 to transport infrastructure, and spending is likely to 2014, they committed more than $100 billion to rise even further to meet aspirations for greater climate mitigation and adaptation, including about mobility and connectivity. But worsening climate $20 billion in the transport sector. impacts have the potential to affect the entire transport value chain, from its location, design, and The MDBs took a concerted move for transport at construction standards to the services it provides. the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Develop- Hence, new and existing transport systems urgently ment (Rio+20), where they pledged $175 billion in need greater investment in resilience. loans and grants for more sustainable transport over the 2012–22 decade (see Connections Note And the demand for climate action is there—from 18). The resulting increase in MDB support for the 100 Parties to the UNFCCC that have adapta- sustainable transport since then—they are currently tion among their priorities, to the 20 most vulner- lending an average of $25 billion per year—is put- able countries that have come together to imple- ting them on track to meet their Rio+20 commit- ment greater climate resilience. ment. Tellingly, however, very few of the plans submit- In October 2015, the MDBs agreed to significantly ted to COP21 include transport-specific adaptation ramp up overall climate finance by 2020, and trans- measures. Thus, enormous effort is still required port is expected to play a key role. The World Bank to build the climate resilience of transport in client Group pledged to increase its climate finance by countries and hence build the climate resilience one-third, to 28 percent of its annual commitments, of the countries themselves. Doing so depends in by 2020. Currently, transport is second only to the part on developing the right approaches, including energy sector in its contributions to mitigation and upstream sectoral and spatial planning and post adaptation co-benefits in World Bank projects. disaster risk and recovery support. The effort must also strengthen and refine the enabling environ- ment, which includes awareness, the capacity to Low-Carbon Transport Solutions address climate impacts, and the tools and meth- With transport contributing to 23 percent of global odologies to integrate these concerns in decision CO2 emissions, the sector holds the key to reduc- making. The World Bank is ready to play its part in ing the emissions trajectory. Investments in low- all these ways. carbon solutions are urgently needed to increase the sustainability of existing and new transport systems. The most significant opportunities to shift For further information on this topic: policies and investments are in the design of public Moving Toward Climate-Resilient Transport: The World Bank’s transport systems, vehicle efficiency, demand man- Experience from Building Adaptation into Programs: agement, regional development, and land use. www.worldbank.org/transport/resilience Climate-focused Vulnerable Twenty Group of Ministers of At COP21, the MDBs and other international finan- Finance: cial institutions will announce “common principles” http://www.thecvf.org/launch-of-the-v20/ to ensure transparency and credible, robust report- Paris Process on Mobility and Climate (PPMC): ing of GHG emissions in transport projects. http://www.slocat.net/ppmc Connections is a weekly series of knowledge notes from the World Bank Group’s Transport & Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Global Practice. Covering projects, experiences, and front-line developments, the series is produced by Nancy Vandycke and Shokraneh Minovi. The notes are available at http://www.worldbank.org/transport/connections. DECEMBER 2015 NOTE 28