Ban Ki-moon appoints co-chairs of Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport

© Auguste Lange – za.fotolia.com

The membership of the advisory group has been announced by United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

The advisory group, established for a period of three years, will work with governments, transport providers (aviation, marine, ferry, rail, road, and urban public transport), businesses, financial institutions, civil society and other stakeholders, to promote sustainable transport systems and their integration into development strategies and policies, including in climate action.

This initiative represents one more step by the secretary-general in advancing climate action and in implementing his five-year action agenda in which the secretary-general pledged to forge consensus around a post-2015 sustainable development agenda and implement it.

Support for strategies

As an integral part of this course of action, the secretary-general has been mobilising the United Nations system to support global, regional and national strategies to address the building blocks of sustainable development, including sustainable transport. The establishment of the advisory group is also a concrete response to the call by stakeholders across a broad array of fields for a more strategic approach to transport- and infrastructure-related issues.

"I look forward to working together with you to help fight poverty and climate change and contribute to future sustainable development goals by advancing sustainable transport across the world," said the secretary-general in his letter to the members of the advisory group.

The aim of the advisory group is to promote accelerated implementation of sustainable transport, aligned closely with the objectives of inclusive and equitable growth, social development, protection of the global environment and ecosystems, and addressing climate change.

Global recommendations

To accomplish this, the advisory group will provide a global message and recommendations on sustainable transport, including on innovative policy and multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable transport, launch a Global Transport Outlook Report by 2015 to provide analytical support for these recommendations, and help mobilise action and initiatives in support of sustainable transport among key actors, including member states, development finance institutions, bilateral development partners, transport providers, urban authorities and land-use planners.

The advisory group will also seek to promote the integration of sustainable transport in relevant intergovernmental processes, including making recommendations on the formulation and implementation of the post-2015 development agenda.

The group will hold its first meeting in the fall of this year and is expected to submit a progress report to the secretary-general in the second half of 2015. In its work streams, the group will be expected to address new development challenges in climate change, transport, infrastructure, and poverty eradication, while also drawing on intergovernmental guidance from the high-level political forum on sustainable development, contributions of the United Nations system and inputs from major groups and other stakeholders.