The International Transport Forum (ITF) is the only global organisation that covers all modes of transport, with close to 63 member countries, including advanced and emerging economies.The ITF can add value by assisting with various transportation goals and aspirations, particularly through the ITF work programme, policy analysis, research skills, and an extensive network of experts and stakeholders. As global demand for passenger and freight transportation rises across all modes, closer collaboration with countries will help ITF achieve its long-term transportation goals during this time of flux and upheaval.
The ITF’s objectives remain focused on advancing the global policy discussion for improved transportation and assisting governments in establishing an evidence-based policy framework for better decisions in these challenging and uncertain times. Additionally, it is looking forward to continuing its collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, as well as the gathering and exchange of knowledge, lessons learned, and experience, in order to encourage the development of the transportation industry. The ITF’s five key focus areas are accessibility, connectivity, decarbonisation, digitisation, and safety and security. For every one of these subjects, various research and analysis initiatives and policy dialogues have been developed, drawing upon the idea of a network of stakeholders and partners.
For instance, following the ratification of the Paris Agreement in 2016, the ITF relaunched its decarbonising transport effort to address transportation and climate change. Together with more than 70 partners, the ITF is enabling governments and companies to put their climate change objectives into action. Over the past five years, the ITF has compiled an inventory of effective carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation solutions, also known as the transport climate action directory ticket, which provides policymakers with an inventory of reviewed transport decarbonisation options.
Currently, there are more than 80 measures in the transport climate action directory ticket, including mitigation measures for sectors like aviation, maritime, and road transport. Through in-depth studies on urban passenger transport, road transport, maritime transport, aviation, and urban transport, the ITF has also accumulated and shared evidence of best practices that will accelerate the transition to carbon neutral mobility. Numerous focus studies, spanning from zero emission shared mobility to resilience technology transition, have also been published. Consequently, the ITF initiative has provided tailored analytical assistance for countries to identify priority decarbonisation transport policies through the establishment of city, national, and regional pathways for stakeholders.
Policy analysis
A game changer As a result of global climate change, every country today faces the same dilemma. There are still numerous difficulties to overcome. The ITF has established a number of ambitious goals for the transportation industry. The transportation sector has limited aptitude for decarbonising society because galvanising transportation is a component of the social covenant in general.Additionally, the ITF now collaborates with numerous stakeholders to grow beyond transportation, most notably to break down silos. It is extremely challenging to achieve ITF’s aspirations if the transport industry is the sole emphasis, without considering other sectors. For instance, a collaborative initiative with the United Nations World Tourism Organization is an example of how the ITF uses its modelling approaches to estimate the tourism sector’s CO2 emissions from transportation to develop policy insights that account for transportation synergies.
Additionally, the ITF initially issued the ticket in July 2020 to support rising economies, as officials in various countries occasionally fail to enforce legislation. The transport climate action directory, which includes over 80 initiatives that governments can implement and quantifies the CO2 reductions for each measure, makes it easy to become normative, prescriptive, and ideological. The goal, however, is incredibly difficult to achieve, necessitating clarity and quantification of the impact. It is commonly established that both emerging economies and economies that have already achieved a certain level of success require a governance structure that is well coordinated. For instance, if the transport ministry or the transportation community believes that something must be considered and undertaken, then funding or a budget must be obtained from the finance ministry before the matter is brought before parliament.
To obtain genuine funding and consent from citizens’ representatives, a synchronised government is essential. To achieve a goal, a well-integrated and seamless governance system, in addition to the full support of all countries is essential, especially in emerging economies. The private and public sectors are also regarded inside the same governance framework. Both the central and local governments are part of the public sector while in the private sector, there are industries and individuals. It is difficult to establish effective operation on a national and global scale without collaboration within this governance framework. The ITF launched the first official transport ministers’ meeting as a side event at the last COP26 in Glasgow.
Many ministers from the transport sector had previously participated, but all environment ministers participated in the negotiations stating that ministers of transport recognise the importance of the transport sector accounting for 24 per cent of CO2 emissions in the global perspective. Lastly, international cooperation and an effective governance system inside the government are crucial. Going forward, possibly in preparation for COP27, the ITF is also planning to host a number of events in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.
Policy analysis
A game changer As a result of global climate change, every country today faces the same dilemma. There are still numerous difficulties to overcome. The ITF has established a number of ambitious goals for the transportation industry. The transportation sector has limited aptitude for decarbonising society because galvanising transportation is a component of the social covenant in general.Additionally, the ITF now collaborates with numerous stakeholders to grow beyond transportation, most notably to break down silos. It is extremely challenging to achieve ITF’s aspirations if the transport industry is the sole emphasis, without considering other sectors. For instance, a collaborative initiative with the United Nations World Tourism Organization is an example of how the ITF uses its modelling approaches to estimate the tourism sector’s CO2 emissions from transportation to develop policy insights that account for transportation synergies.
Additionally, the ITF initially issued the ticket in July 2020 to support rising economies, as officials in various countries occasionally fail to enforce legislation. The transport climate action directory, which includes over 80 initiatives that governments can implement and quantifies the CO2 reductions for each measure, makes it easy to become normative, prescriptive, and ideological. The goal, however, is incredibly difficult to achieve, necessitating clarity and quantification of the impact. It is commonly established that both emerging economies and economies that have already achieved a certain level of success require a governance structure that is well coordinated. For instance, if the transport ministry or the transportation community believes that something must be considered and undertaken, then funding or a budget must be obtained from the finance ministry before the matter is brought before parliament. To obtain genuine funding and consent from citizens’ representatives, a synchronised government is essential. To achieve a goal, a well-integrated and seamless governance system, in addition to the full support of all countries is essential, especially in emerging economies.
The private and public sectors are also regarded inside the same governance framework. Both the central and local governments are part of the public sector while in the private sector, there are industries and individuals. It is difficult to establish effective operation on a national and global scale without collaboration within this governance framework. The ITF launched the first official transport ministers’ meeting as a side event at the last COP26 in Glasgow. Many ministers from the transport sector had previously participated, but all environment ministers participated in the negotiations stating that ministers of transport recognise the importance of the transport sector accounting for 24 per cent of CO2 emissions in the global perspective. Lastly, international cooperation and an effective governance system inside the government are crucial.
Going forward, possibly in preparation for COP27, the ITF is also planning to host a number of events in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.
Spurring collaborations
The ITF has recently launched the Transport Decarbonisation: Driving Implementation (DT implementation) initiative to provide more concrete solutions to the challenges in the mobility industrial sector, such as the aviation and maritime working groups for which the ITF developed a sectoral approach. International organisations were invited to participate and provide assistance. Primarily, the ITF tries to connect to nontransport sectors, such as the trade, urban and housing, tourism, and energy sectors, because it is difficult to focus on finding solutions without connecting transportation sectors to other sectors. As a result, the ITF will continue to reach out to various stakeholders in the global community in order to find a solution for society as a whole, not just the transportation industry.
Based on remarks by Young Tae Kim, Secretary General, International Transport Forum