HVT calls for a just transition to low-carbon transport as part of COP27

COP27 closed with the creation of a new fund to address the loss and damage caused by global heating, taking a small step to addressing the inequality of the climate change burden between the rich and poor countries of the world.

It was a theme echoed by HVT throughout our five-day side event, highlighting the need for a just transition to low-carbon transport.

The side event, in partnership with the Climate Compatible Growth Programme, took place from 7^th to 11^th November with three HVT sessions taking place, which included:

Making investment work hard to achieve greener, more resilient transport

Tuesday 8^th November

Good transport infrastructures require big investment and time, which are two things policy makers are usually short of. Transport investment can become focused on shorter term investment priorities, trying to answer immediate needs of growing economies but failing to accommodate the longer-term needs to be greener and more resilient to climate change.

This session explored where and how decision support tools and data can do better to achieve infrastructures that meet the economic needs of lower-income-countries as well as the urgent need for low-carbon transport. 

Moderated by former World Bank Country Director, Henry Kerali, speakers included:

• Martin Humphreys, who is the Lead Transport Economist and Global Lead for Transport Connectivity and Regional Integration at the World Bank, speaking about the update to the Highway Development and Management Model — currently called HDM-4.

• Tom Russell and Jim Hall from the University of Oxford who have been working on an HVT project to develop decision support systems for resilient strategic transport networks in low income countries – providing transport decision-makers in LMICs with support tools, which enable them to prioritise interventions that will deliver sustainable and resilient long-distance transport networks.

• Isaac Tchinga Mzengereza from Go-Metro, who is part of the Africa Urban Mobility Observatory (AUMO) project that is piloting innovative techniques to obtain data about people’s movements and modes of transport to support resilient transport development.

Opportunities for African cities to meet their transport and urban planning needs in a greener, more sustainable way

Wednesday 9^th November

African cities are the most rapidly growing and youngest cities in the world, and they’re changing fast. This offers immense opportunities as well as challenges for urban planning to meet the needs of the people and the economic growth, alongside meeting the urgent progress needed to address climate change.

This session looks at the opportunities in urban and transport planning for African cities — considering trends such as transit-oriented development (TOD), where people live closer to jobs and services reducing time and environmental burden on transport and boosting economic growth.  TOD has become a go-to approach in many high-income countries but can it offer opportunities in low-income cities where economic development and urban sprawl has created very different cities to those where TOD has been applied before?

We explored how urban planning must take into consideration modes of transport relied upon in low-income countries that are currently often overlooked in urban planning approaches such as informal public transport and cycling.

Moderated by ITDP’s Heather Thompson, speakers included:

• Chris Kost, ITDP is the Africa Program Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, a leading organization in promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation policies and projects worldwide. ITDP is currently working on the HVT project City Retrofit, which seeks to understand how transit-oriented development has been pursued in LMICs and what can be learned from those efforts.

• Paul Curtis, manages the portfolio of international sustainable mobility projects in which Vectos takes a leading role. He is currently working on an HVT project that sets out to understand how we can better enable a more efficient, low carbon, affordable and safe transport network for the cities of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), working proactively with the informal public transport sector who provide over 70% of the transport needs in these cities.

• Gail Jennings, is an independent researcher specialising in mobility access, equity, public space, energy, public health and urban development. During the session she specifically spoke about active transport and the opportunity it presented.

Unlocking a pathway to low carbon transport in African cities without compromising economic growth

Friday 11^th November

Globally, nearly a quarter of all energy related carbon emissions come from the transport sector making transport critical to achieving the ambitious Paris Agreement. The contribution from African countries to transport emissions has historically been low compared to the rest of the world, but they are increasing in line with increased prosperity and growing economies. This session will explore how economic growth in African countries can continue without adding to CO₂, in other words decoupled. And that rather than Africa’s need for improved mobility presenting a threat to the environment, could it be an opportunity by identifying new and better ways to develop low-carbon transport pathways?

Moderated by former World Bank Country Director, Henry Kerali, speakers included:

• Francis Mwangi, Lead in Sustainable transport from Kenyan National government and Esther Gacanja, from the Kenyan State Department of Transport, spoke about the challenges, successes and future plans for transport in Kenya.

• Bronwen Thornton, from Walk21, spoke about walking as the primary mode of transport for most people in African cities and yet highlighted that it is often overlooked when considering planning infrastructure at both a policy and practical level. Walk21 represents walking through work on a broad variety of projects with policy makers, training on how to create a walkable city and advocacy.

• Romanus Otieno Opiyo and Gary Haq, University of York spoke about ways to include all voices from communities in transport planning. They highlighted the recently published guide on Inclusive Climate Resilient Transport Planning in Africa, and showcased the work with the launch of a film.

• Clive Roberts, University of Birmingham, gave an update on the work coming from the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE), with industry partners Porterbrook, on hydrogen fuel technology and its potential to transform rail transport across the globe.

The side-event also included a session highlighting two new reports from SuM4All, which HVT supported, on e-mobility. E-mobility in Low-Income Countries in Africa: Finance, Governance, and Equity  seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the just transition toward sustainable mobility in the Global South. It was prepared by a joint team under the umbrella of the Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4ALL) Partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) and the High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme (HVT).

A second SuM4All paper was also launched that further explores the opportunities and challenges that e-mobility encounters in LICs. Electromobility and Renewable Electricity: Developing Infrastructure for Synergies highlights that while electrification of transport is a central pillar of the much-need emission reductions in the transport sector, it will require substantial scaling up of renewable electricity.