Urban transport and climate change action plans: An overview

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Posted on: 19 July 2011
By: mackene
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Filed under: News

Cities around the world are developing dedicated Climate Change Action Plans to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and improve the local air quality for their inhabitants. The transport sector usually plays a crucial role in any such strategy.  This paper summarises the measures outlined in Climate Change Action Plans of more than 30 cities in all continents. Its focus is on the actions proposed in the transport chapter of the relevant plans. However, in many cases other Urban Transport Planning documents (Transportation Master Plans, Land Use Plans, etc.) play a key role for implementing specific measures, while the Climate Action Plans outline the more general goals. The measures initiated to reduce these negative impacts of urban transport take many forms. Increasing the share of public transport and non-motorised modes such as walking and cycling are core elements in many emission reduction strategies, but most often they are supplemented by other short-term and long-term measures. One key feature of most actions proposed is that they provide several co-benefits: many options not only reduce GHG emissions and improve air quality, but also enhance energy efficiency, and, especially in the developing world, contribute to better transport services for the poor. This is a revised version, previously published in April 2009.

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