UNIFE PARTICIPATES IN TRANSPORT DAY 2013 DURING THE 19TH CONFERENCE OF PARTIES (COP19)

WARSAW—On 17 November, UNIFE participated in Transport Day 2013, an event dedicated to sustainable, low-carbon transport and taking place during the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Warsaw. The event was organized by the Bridging the Gap Initiative and the SLoCaT Partnership. It was supported by seventeen organisations including UNIFE, UIC and UITP, and attended by over 150 participants from all over the world.

The aims of the conference were:

To demonstrate the contribution that transport can make to mitigation and adaptation, specifically in the context of sustainable development;
To promote the integration of transport in policy making on climate change mitigation and adaptation under the UNFCCC;
To ensure that modalities for financing, capacity building, and technology transfer under the UNFCCC are appropriate for the transport sector.

During the opening session, UNIFE Director General Philippe Citroën intervened along with high-level speakers such as Nikhil Seth, Director Sustainable Development Division in UN-DESA representing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. On behalf of Transport Day 2013 Supporting Organizations, Philippe Citroën commented, “Transport policies and technologies have already proven their mitigation potential, and the new global agreement represents a unique opportunity to fully encapsulate this potential in order to scale them up.” UNIFE was also represented by Giles Dickson, Vice President Environmental Policies and Global Advocacy at Alstom, in a stream on policy making on sustainable, low carbon transport in the developing world. Giles Dickson said: “Rail technologies are already clean and keep improving. Rail can have a huge impact in combatting climate change, but policies have to be right.”

The Warsaw Statement on Low Carbon Transport and Sustainable Development, which UNIFE endorsed, was officially adopted at the end of the event. The Warsaw Statement contains recommendations on how to strengthen the integration of sustainable, low carbon transport in the UNFCCC process, especially the new global agreement on climate change.

Transport Day 2013 is the first of three annual events dedicated to the promotion of sustainable low-carbon transport in a global context preceding the 2015 Paris conference that should define the post-2020 international climate framework. The event built upon previous cooperation work amongst sustainable transport stakeholders such as during COP18 (Doha), when UNIFE co-organised a side event on “Transport and our low carbon future”.

More information can be found on the website of SLoCaT: http://www.slocat.net/