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New Global Roadmap of Action to guide the future of mobility

With growing urbanization, increasing world trade and new technologies, the global mobility system is stressed. More than 1 billion people, or one-third of the global rural population, lack access to all-weather roads and transport services, constituting a major barrier to social and economic advancement. To be sustainable, safety must be strengthened across all modes of transport; for road transport alone, 1.35 million people die every year due to poor road safety. Transport is also a major contributor of global CO2 emissions and harmful air pollution.


The Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All) initiative launched today the Global Roadmap of Action toward Sustainable Mobility (GRA), a tool to guide country decision-makers on “how to” achieve mobility that is efficient, accessible, safe and green.


The GRA takes a holistic approach, offering concrete policy solutions countries can adapt and adopt to achieve sustainable mobility. The GRA helps countries identify gaps, crucial steps, and appropriate policies to ensure that transport contributes to attain the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and improve the sustainability of their transport system.  


According to the GRA, globally, one billion more people would be connected to education, health and jobs if we close the transport access gap in rural areas; improvements in border administration, transport and communication infrastructure could increase global GDP by up to US$2.6 trillion; and an additional 1.6 billion people would breathe cleaner air if transport pollution was halved.


“The current mobility system takes a heavy toll on our planet and leaves many people behind. In most cases, it is also expensive, inefficient, and unsafe. The GRA is the first comprehensive effort to look across the four policy goals of accessibility, efficiency, safety, and green mobility for all modes of transport with a focus on action. It serves as an important tool for policymakers to act now and turn the vision of sustainable transport into a reality,” said Nancy Vandycke, Program Manager of SuM4All and World Bank Lead Economist. 


According to Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UNECE, “The United Nations inland transport conventions administered by UNECE provide a harmonized legal and regulatory framework for the development of sustainable transport systems worldwide. They enable the efficient and safe mobility of people and goods, and boost economic development by enhancing connectivity and saving significant time and costs for cross-border trade. These unique tools, coupled with binding air pollution reduction commitments under UNECE’s Air Convention, also help to integrate air quality and climate action at the heart of sustainable mobility.”


UINECE co-led the development of Policy Papers for the GRA, on Efficiency (with UNCTAD) and Safety (with WHO).


The GRA report is the outcome of more than 18 months of work by 55 influential organizations, 180 experts, and consultations with 50 public decision makers and 25 private corporations. SuM4All is an umbrella platform supported by 55 public and private organizations with a shared ambition to transform the future of mobility.


The GRA follows the 2017 launch of the Global Mobility Report, the first-ever global assessment of the transport sector across all modes.


For more information, please visit: http://www.sum4all.org/GRA and http://www.sum4all.org/online-tool

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United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

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