Issue 2/2010, April 2010

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Dear Readers,

We are pleased to publish the new issue of our newsletter on land transport and climate change. In this second issue in 2010 we report from the recent AWG meetings in Bonn and present results from Copenhagen and the weeks after. We also include recent information about the CDM in the transport sector, including one submission to the UNFCCC of the Bridging the Gap Initiative on standardized baselines in the transport sector.

'Bridging the Gap: Pathways for Transport in the Post 2012 Process' is an initiative of GTZ, TRL, UITP, ITDP and Veolia Transport created to tackle climate emissions from land transport and to integrate this major contributor to human-induced climate change into the international climate negotiation process. We encourage you to help us spread this information widely.

If you would like to be informed regularly please subscribe to the newsletter via our website:

www.transport2012.org

Please do not hesitate to forward this newsletter to others that may be interested in transport and climate change.

New member of the initiative

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a non-profit organization that promotes equitable and sustainable development, is now a full and active member of the Bridging the Gap initiative. ITDP, with offices in the U.S., Latin America, Asia, and Africa, has been actively involved with Bridging the Gap since fall 2009, engaging in cooperative action in various climate meetings in Bangkok, Barcelona, and Brussels, and at COP15 in Copenhagen. GTZ, TRL, UITP and Veolia Transport are happy to welcome their new partner. 

Flyer 2010

New information flyer of the Bridging the Gap initiative available in English and Chinese.

Save the date: Bridging the Gap Workshop on 8th of June, 2010

The next workshop of the Bridging the Gap initiative on "Climate Change and Development in the Transport Sector - What do we need to achieve GHG mitigation from land transport?" will take place in Bonn on 8th of June, 2010. Please save the date and check back later for further information.

Climate talks in Bonn conclude by holding two extra meetings during 2010

The first round of climate talks in Bonn after the Copenhagen summit concluded on Monday morning, 12th April. The Bridging the Gap Initiative was present at the meeting and had several discussions with climate negotiators at initiative's stand.

CSD-18: United Nations Forum on Climate Change Mitigation, Fuel Efficiency and Sustainable Urban Transport

The UN Forum on Climate Change Mitigation, Fuel Efficiency and Sustainable Development of Urban Transport met from 16-17 March 2010, in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in preparation for the 18th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). CSD 18 (New York, US, from 3-14 May 2010) will review environmental progress made in the implementation of decisions on transport and sustainable development followed by formulating the way forward during 2011. The Forum options to enhance public transport and curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, public private partnerships, financing public transport in developing countries, among others. Daniel Bongardt (GTZ) and Heather Allen (UITP) participated on behalf of the Bridging the Gap initiative and consequently linked international negotiations on transport and climate change under the CSD and the UNFCCC.

Submission to the UNFCCC on the development of standardized baselines

The Transport Research Foundation has made the submission on behalf of the Bridging the Gap initiative with endorsement from the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) on "the modalities and procedures for the development of standardised baselines that are broadly applicable, while providing for a high level of environmental integrity and taking into account specific national circumstances". The submission provides recommendations for methods of standardization which can help improve the efficiency, applicability and environmental integrity of CDM in the transport sector.

Transport as CDM? It is already happening

As of February 1st, 2010, there are 4926 CDM projects in the CDM pipeline- meaning that a country has submitted a proposal on their CDM project activity for validation and/or registration by the CDM Executive Board. Of all the project activities, only 0,3% apply to the transport sector. The two transport projects currently in operation are the BRT-System in Bogotá, Columbia, and the other concerns the metro system in Delhi, India.

A city-wide approach to carbon finance (incl. transport)

Less than 1% of projects registered with the CDM are credited to cities, among which are two transport projects. In contrast to that, cities are recognized leaders in mitigating GHG emissions. However, there are numerous reasons for the limited experience of cities in developing carbon finance projects. In this recent publication of the World Bank's Carbon Finance Unit, a city-wide approach to carbon finance is outlined. It proposes expansion of the CDM's Programme of Activities approach to enable aggregation of city-based GHG mitigation reductions among five sectors: energy, transport, solid waste, water and wastewater, and urban forestry. The approach presented in this document refers extensively to CDM methodologies. However, this approach could help to rearrange the focus on transport projects and it could be expanded to include innovative, new methods to calculate emission reductions including new transport methodologies.

Copenhagen Accord NAMA Submissions: Implications for the Transport Sector

This paper of the Bridging the gap initiative provides a brief overview of the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) submissions made by developing countries as of 4 February 2010. Since February 1, submissions are added to the UNFCCC website every day and a number of Parties have stated an "intention‟ to do so. The current fluidity of the process means that the website should be referred to for updates, although to date 25 countries have submitted NAMA actions, and 35 developed countries submitted national pledges to cut and limit greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 2020. These countries collectively account for more than 78% of global emissions from energy use.

Guidance note for developing countries: Formulating NAMAs in the Transport Sector

The Copenhagen Accord provides an opportunity for non-Annex I country Parties to submit a list of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for inclusion within Appendix II of the Accord. The Bridging the Gap initiative has developed a guidance document for Parties on the submission of NAMAs in the transport sector, providing an overview of the potential mitigation actions, at national and sub-national level, that could be included within NAMA submissions.

What's next? - The outcome of the climate conference in Copenhagen and its implications for the land transport sector

The recent United Nations conference on climate change that took place in Copenhagen in December 2009 was attended by over 40,000 stakeholders, with more than 100 Heads of State and some 190 governments from around the globe making it the largest gathering of climate experts and policy makers ever known. An expectation of the COP15 conference was the delivery of an international agreement on a post 2012 international climate regime after two years of intense high level negotiations and discussions on the basis of the Bali Roadmap.

This paper of the Bridging the gap initiative provides a brief overview of the outcome of the UN conference and a discussion of the implications of decisions made there in respect to the transport sector, and how transport can play a more defining role in addressing climate change.

Since COP14 in Poznan GTZ, ITDP, UITP, TRL and Veolia Transport aim to'bridge the gap' between the transport sector and the climate change negotiations process. The joint initiative is conducting a series of workshops and side events linked to the negotiation process in order to make a Post 2012 agreement work for the land transport sector and promote sustainable solutions for developing countries.

Our initiative's website www.transport2012.org provides an overview of our activities, publications, past events and information on related upcoming events.

Supporting Organizations

To encourage international action to slow down CO2 emissions from the transport sector, several international organizations have decided to join forces for the recognition that transport can and should play in mitigating GHG emissions. This includes the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport launched by the UNDESA, the Asian Development Bank and other international organizations.

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Contact:
For further information, please contact Ms. Heather Allen (heather.allen@uitp.com), Mr Daniel Bongardt (daniel.bongardt@gtz.de), Mr Ramon Cruz (rcruz@itdp.org), Mr Holger Dalkmann (hdalkmann@trl.co.uk), Ms Caroline Edant (caroline.edant@veolia.com)

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