COP22 ended on 18 November with the Marrakech Climate Declaration. All participants and negotiators acknowledged the execution of the Paris Agreement that came into effect on 4 November.
As mentioned last week, UIC contributed to many different events during COP22.
The first contribution from UIC experts was on 9 November 2016 during the side event: “Transport Adaptation to climate change in Africa”. John Dora, a Consultant often working with UIC, took part in this event.
Due to a strong focus on the discussions about transport and climate change on the mitigation aspects, the important adaptation of transport systems and services has been neglected. There is a critical need for surface transport systems and services to be more resilient to climate change in particular in vulnerable regions.
The impacts of climate change are different depending on the regions, and each country, area and modes have different capacities to respond.
This event was the occasion to launch the “COP22 Transport Adaptation Declaration” signed by many organisations during COP22, including UIC.
This declaration was eventually presented to the High Level Champions and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Espinosa on 17 November.
On 11 November, UITP and UIC organised the event “Linking Global Initiatives to Concrete Actions on the Ground for Low Carbon Rail and Public Transport” in the green zone, Innovation & Civil Society during the Ocean, Transport, Energy Day.
Carbon emissions from transport continue to rise year on year. In order to accelerate mitigation in this area, both UIC and UITP have launched initiatives as a part of the Global Climate Action Agenda. This event introduced global targets for urban transport and railway transport together with examples of concrete actions taken by operators.
Nick Craven, Head of the Sustainable Unit at UIC moderated this session with speakers including: Alain Flausch, Secretary General, UITP, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General, UIC, Mohammed Adouiri Alaoui, Advisor to the General Director, ONCF, Morocco, Member of UIC African Region, Christian Dubost, Sustainability Director, SNCF, France, Amadou Ba, President of Urban Transport of Dakar (Cetud) UITP Sustainable Development Commission, Senegal, Youssef Draiss, Director General of Casablanca Transport, Morocco and Rafika Habra, Director General Bus City, Morocco.
This event gave a great overview of activities and practical examples and focused particularly on the African region and Morocco.
On that same day a ITF, UITP and UIC event “Charting Pathways to Decarbonise Transport” took place in the blue zone.
In order to successfully decarbonise the transport sector, challenges in all transport modes must be addressed. This event focused on developing new pathways and closing the gaps between national commitments and delivery on climate mitigation for different transport modes, such as rail, road, aviation, and shipping. Success factors and actions required to move from concept to implementation on the decarbonisation of transport by 2050 were discussed.
The event was moderated by Mary Crass, Head of Institutional Relations, International Transport Forum (ITF).
Speakers included: José Viegas, Secretary General, International Transport Forum (ITF), Alain Flausch, Secretary General, International Association of Public Transport (UITP), Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General, International Union of Railways (UIC), Jane Hupe, Deputy Director, Air Transport Bureau, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Edmund Hughes, Head of Air Pollution and Energy Efficiency, International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mohamed Rabie Khlie, Chairman, UIC African Region & CEO, Moroccan Railway ONCF, Amadou Ba, President, Executive Council of Urban Transport in Dakar (CETUD).
The conference is online on YouTube and still available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2GPyg_b_YE&list=PL-m2oy1bnLzocWRks4MGBmGKdcf8Nxuns&index=177
In the afternoon, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of UIC, and Mohamed Rabie Khlie, Chairman of the UIC African Region & CEO of ONCF, participated in the Transport CEO Round Table on Climate Change organised by PPMC in the blue zone.
“The primary objective of the Transport CEO Round Table was to determine how the private sector and the GCAA Transport team can best engage in the further development of the proposed PPMC – Global Roadmap‖ as an actionable vision of transport decarbonisation to implement the Paris Agreement. The round table was chaired by Jean Dominique Senard, CEO of Michelin, and was attended by numerous participants representing national & international transport companies, private sector organizations (e.g. WBCSD, WEF, We Mean Business, CDP,UNGC) and modal transport sub-sectors (e.g. ECF, UIC, UITP).” Source: Transport takes off at COP22 – Day Five – 11 November 2016 – Daily Report PPMC
On 12 November in the morning, a debate was organised in the Climate Train in Marrakech train station – organized by SNCF and ONCF unde the title “Major railway projects at the service of climate and sustainable development” . The event was moderated by Gabriel Castañares, Senior Advisor Energy & CO2 at UIC.
Many different speakers discussed climate change and its concerns and how rail can be a solution, particularly displaying ONCF commitments in Morocco, for a more sustainable future. Speakers included: Mohammed Adouiri, Advisor to the General Director and in charge of COP22 projects for ONCF, Alain Quinet, Deputy General Director for SNCF Réseau, Mohammed Smouni, Director of Development at ONCF, Anne Guerrero, SNCF Réseau – Deputy Director of Environment and Sustainability, Michel DUBROMEL, France Nature Environment non-profit organisation. Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of UIC concluded the event along with Mr Stéphane Volant, Secretary General of SNCF. The event concluded with the signature of a partnership for sustainable development between SNCF and ONCF.
A Transport Showcase was held in the blue zone on the afternoon of the 12 November – it was mandated by the COP 22 Champion - in the context of the Global Climate Action Agenda . Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of UIC, contributed to the discussions on adaptation and emphasised as well as other actors from the air, the road and the maritime but as well from organisations promoting cycling, that COP22 should encourage working together, that mutualisation is crucial even in a context where sense of ownership and competition in our society are so strong: “The CEO of the International Union of Railways echoed this call for integration, noting that ‘new key word is collaboration, not competition,’ and stating that transport must harness the ‘young minds’ of universities, youth groups, and start-up industry, to bring new energy to older and larger organizations.” Source: Transport: Thinking, Dreaming, and Acting Big - Days Six and Seven – 12-13 November 2016 – Daily Report PPMC
We will also note that UIC attended a green zone side event organised by SNCF “Financements Climat et Mobilité Durable” (Climate Financing and Sustainable Mobility) Moderated by Kelly Robin, IPEMED and Antoine Rothey, SNCF in the presence of speakers from ONCF, PPMC/SLOCAT, UITP, ARED, I4CE, AFD, CODATU, Dakar municipality and the Abidjan Region.
On 13 November the Transport Day was organised by SLOCAT. The event brought together many different types of organisations representing all modes of transport.
UIC contributed actively to the transport adaptation and resilience breakout session, moderated by Nick Craven, Head of the Sustainable Unit at UIC.
“Following the likely impact of the United States elections may have on emission, the transport adaptation and resilience session made clear that adaptation is now even more important than ever, and therefore must build a community distinct from the mitigation community. Speakers noted that a Global Transport Adaptation Leadership Forum would be useful in providing adaptation with its own space and leadership. Governments must also become better at managing risk, economic factors are not an excuse, as initial costs are far outweighed by the economic costs associated with post disaster loss and damaged when risk has been mismanaged.” Source: Transport: Thinking, Dreaming, and Acting Big - Days Six and Seven – 12-13 November 2016 – Daily Report PPMC
It was announced that COP23 will be organized next year in Bonn, Germany under Fiji’s Presidency.
Until then, UIC continues its commitments with the United Nations, participating later this week in the Global Sustainable Transport Conference in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – 26-27 November 2016.
An overview of UIC’s participation to this event will be given later next week but if you want to know more, please have a look at the dedicated website:
http://globaltransportconference.gov.tm/index.php?q=pages&id=1
UIC wishes to thanks the co-organisers of these events during COP22, in particular ONCF, SNCF, UITP, ITF and SLOCAT.
An interview of Jean-Pierre LOUBINOUX, UIC Director General, on
“Sustainable development – what has happened since the COP21 conference? What are the next challenges?” is available here: https://youtu.be/xMkYD8xq27Q
