What Role does Transport Play in Countries’ Newest Climate Plans?

Key insights on transport in NDCs and LTS

Together with the SLOCAT Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport, the TraCS project with support from the NDC Transport Initiative for Asia assessed the role of transport in new and updated NDCs and LTS. Since transport is the second largest polluting sector, it plays a crucial role in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. On 27 January 2022, Nadja Taeger, Transport Advisor at the GIZ, and Nikola Medimorec, Research Director at SLOCAT, presented key findings of their analysis. The event was facilitated by Chris Dekki, Global Advocacy and Engagement Director at SLOCAT.

Although more and more countries include transport measures in their NDCs and LTS, many commitments remain vague. Critical areas – such as freight transport – are not sufficiently addressed, and several NDCs miss the opportunity to link climate action in transport to a broader sustainability agenda. Many NDCs fail to consider, for example, that the electrification of transport systems can only be climate-friendly when it is based on a renewable power system. Another crucial but still neglected tool for making transport more sustainable is the introduction of transport targets, aiming at reducing emissions but also at introducing low carbon transport modes for example.   

All in all, the event made clear that a lot remains to be done in order to put transport on a pathway toward net-zero emissions.  

“The implementation of transport climate strategies is largely dependent on action at the local level. However, NDCs do not include enabling frameworks and policies to support local governments in improving the sustainability of urban mobility.” 

Nikola Medimorec
Director, Data Analysis and Research, SLOCAT Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport

“Without the decarbonisation of transport, net-zero pathways are out of reach. But NDCs and long-term strategies don’t yet feature ambitious transport targets, and so there is no going net-zero in transport in sight.” 

Nadja Taeger
Transport Advisor, GIZ 

Click here to watch the online seminar. If you want to dive deeper into the topic take a look at the latest piece of our blog series or check out our brochure providing key insights on transport in NDCs and LTS. 

Use our Tracker to explore the role of transport in the climate policy planning of a particular country. Alternatively, compare targets, measures, and much more between countries.

The ‘Advancing Transport Climate Strategies’ project is implemented by GIZ and funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. 

The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia is a joint programme of seven organisations and is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).