It is an honour and privilege for me to share these remarks with you today, at the Global Sustainable Transport Forum.
Transport is central to modern living, shaping the way we work, live, learn and do business.
It undergirds economies and societies. It extends markets and allows for ever more economic specialization. At the same time, it draws us closer together, connecting us across boundaries, borders, seas and oceans.
The benefits of effective transport systems reach far beyond its immediate uses, with multiplier effects across education, health and economic productivity, among others. This is why transport investments have always been key elements of successful national development strategies.
But transport has also come with negative side effects. Environmental pollution, transport accidents and security are such examples.
The key challenge of sustainable transport policy is to maximize the positive impacts while curtailing the negative ones. And the stakes are high.
Last year alone, road accidents led to an estimated 1.4 million deaths and 50 million physical injuries and disabilities. Road traffic injuries continue being the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29, causing not only human suffering but also great economic burdens for the victims’ families and national economies.
Transport accounts for half of global oil demand and is responsible for a quarter of direct CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion worldwide. Not surprisingly, emissions from transport have increased rapidly with development.
But efforts to change course are underway.
For example, IMO has reached an agreement to strengthen its strategy for reducing GHG emissions from ships with ambitious targets.
The rapid uptake of electric vehicles is reducing transport’s dependency on oil and bringing stability to modern renewables.
But even with this progress, great challenges remain.
As the size of electric vehicles increase so too does the consumption of materials and power. Concrete commitments and actions across industries and all modes of transport, as well as smart choices for infrastructure and vehicles will be needed.
Growing motorization presents another key challenge, driven by growing populations and rapid urbanization. Motorization rates, particularly in cities, cause congestion, air pollution and affiliated health problems and productivity losses.
Today, urban areas are home to 55 per cent of the world’s population – by 2050 it will be 68 per cent. And only half of the world’s urban population has convenient access to public transport.
Inefficient transportation infrastructure is also a point of concern. Across the developing world, an estimated 1 billion people continue to lack access to all-weather roads, limiting access to decent work and crucial services like healthcare and education.
The timing of this Global Sustainable Transport Forum at the heels of the SDG Summit, High-level Dialogue of Financing and preparatory meeting for the Summit of the Future, creates an opportunity to explore these challenges to sustainable transport in the broader context of SDG acceleration.
This is an important venue for discussing policies that make transport more sustainable and that make our global systems of transport more integrative. Today’s Global Sustainable Transport Forum can also provide a platform for discussing ambitious transport-related commitments and partnerships.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The international community is granting ever growing attention to the role of transport in driving our broader development goals and climate ambitions.
In May this year, the UN General Assembly declared 26 November as World Sustainable Transport Day. This dedicated day is expected to strengthen UN work for sustainable transport and calls for educating people worldwide about transport issues. I encourage all of you to get engaged in the celebrations.
The Assembly has also requested its President to consider holding a high-level event on sustainable transport in New York. Such an event is expected to raise the profile of transport in international diplomacy and support progress towards sustainable transport.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope that concrete actions will emerge from this meeting that make our transport systems more accessible and sustainable at local, regional and global levels.
I look forward to the hearing the outcomes.
Thank you all.