13th EST Forum pre-event

Virtual conference on transport reporting mechanisms in Asia

Under the title “Tracking progress in Asia’s transport transformation – Opportunities for linking SDG and NDC reporting” government officials and experts from more than 10 countries took part in a virtual pre-event to the 13^th Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum organised by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLOCAT) and the Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP).

In his context presentation, Holger Dalkmann, Founder and CEO of Sustain 2030 , emphasized the importance of integration between different reporting mechanisms. This applies to  coordinated reporting on climate and development targets (Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)) as well as to vertical alignment of the local, national and regional level. Such vertical alignment requires capacity building and institutionalised structures at the national level, which also allow for a better coordination between different sectors and stakeholders (e.g. transport and energy, public and private). With regard to the current Covid-19 pandemic Mr. Dalkmann highlighted the relevance of long-term planning reporting, where the “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction ” might provide a useful orientation.

In breakout discussions participants shared experiences from the local and national level. Many participants underlined the benefit of clear responsibilities and coordination processes on the national level. A consistent alignment of SDG and NDC reporting is often lacking, although many convergences between the climate targets and sustainable development goals exist. Clear and institutionalised reporting mechanisms would constitute a robust base for policy dialogue as well as possibly facilitate access to additional climate finance for transport actions.

Participants further discussed the benefits of having a regional reporting mechanism. Country representatives would highly welcome to have access to high-quality data e.g. on trans-boundary emissions or fuel economy policies. The data could be used to design national and regional policies likewise and could inform sharing good practices. Examples like the planned Asian Transport Outlook by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the EST Bangkok Declaration (successor declaration will be adopted next year) were mentioned as potential role models for reporting on the regional level. However, a more standardised data collection process and reporting framework are yet to be developed for the EST 2030 Declaration and should bring together the existing Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement and the guidance on Voluntary National Reviews to report on SDG progress.

The presentations, event materials and background paper of this workshop can be found here.  Conclusions form the pre-event will be presented by Urda Eichhorst, project director of the NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) at GIZ, at the Plenary Session 1 of the 13^th EST Forum on November 10, 2020.

The event was organised by GIZ and SLOCAT as part of the NDC-TIA, the Advancing Transport Climate Strategies (TraCS) project and the LEDS GP Transport Working Group. All projects are funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety’s (BMU) International Climate Initiative (IKI).