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Also in the global South, transport already significantly contributes to climate change and has high growth rates. Further rapid motorisation of countries in Asia and Latin America could counteract any climate efforts and aggravate problems of noxious emissions, noise and congestion.
This Paper aims at connecting the need for transport actions in developing countries to the international negotiations on a post-2012 climate change agreement. It outlines the decisions to be taken in Copenhagen and the preparations to adequately implement these decisions from 2013. Arguing, that a sustainable transport approach needs to set up comprehensive policy packages, the paper assesses the substance of current climate negotiations against the fit to sustainable transport. It concludes that the transport sector's importance should be highlighted and a significant contribution to mitigation efforts required.
Combining the two perspectives lead to several concrete suggestions: Existing elements of the carbon market should be improved (e.g. discounting), but an upscale of the carbon market would not be an appropriate solution. Due to a lack of additionality, offsetting industrialised countries' targets would finally undermine the overall success of the climate agreement. Instead, a mitigation fund should be established under the UNFCCC and financed by industrialised countries. This fund should explicitly enable developing countries to implement national sustainable development transport and mobility policies as well as local projects. While industrialized countries would set up target achievement plans, developing countries should outline low carbon development strategies, including a section on transport policy.
The Chinese national government has put energy efficiency and pollution control at the heart of its 11th five-year plan (2005-2010). However, implementation of national policies at the local level is notoriously poor in China. In order to tackle this problem, voluntary agreements were signed between local Environmental Protection Bureaus and 14 mostly state-owned companies from different energy-intensive sectors in Nanjing, Xi'an and Kelamayi in the context of an ongoing EU-funded pilot project. In Nanjing, for instance, agreed targets are in the range of a 3-5% reduction in energy intensity by 2009 over a 2007 baseline. The pilot agreements are informed by Dutch experiences with long-term agreements on energy efficiency (LTA/1989-1999) as European best practice, but have been significantly adjusted to Chinese circumstances. Much emphasis was put on process management applying a cooperative approach throughout. Each enterprise put together a so-called Energy Action Team for voluntary agreement development and implementation. This helped to create a sense of ownership in the companies and assigned clear responsibilities. Energy Action Teams conducted Energy Potential Scans in cooperation with a Dutch expert to identify energy saving potentials and possible measures to realize them. On this basis, achievable targets were agreed and a detailed action plan was developed. A first evaluation is scheduled for April 2009. By lifting industry on a more equal power level with government authorities, voluntary agreements showed to be an effective policy instrument to overcome traditional institutional constraints to environmental policy implementation at the local level in China.
Steuerung nachhaltiger Daseinsvorsorge im öffentlichen Nahverkehr : politische Handlungsperspektiven
(2006)
Das vorliegende Wuppertal Paper setzt sich mit der Frage der Verankerung von Daseinsvorsorge und Dienstleistungsqualität im Öffentlichen Personennahverkehr (ÖPNV) auseinander. Das Papier liefert eine Diskussionsgrundlage, die - ausgehend von der derzeitigen Gesetzeslage - das Politikfeld ÖPNV konzeptionell weiterentwickelt. Unter dem Stichwort nachhaltige Daseinsvorsorge wird die Frage gestellt, wie der ÖPNV verstärkt zum Ziel einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung beitragen kann. Im Mittelpunkt des Papiers steht die Analyse von Gesetzestexten, ausgewählten Nahverkehrsplänen und Ausschreibungen. Auf Basis der Analyse werden die zentralen Begriffe "Daseinsvorsorge" und "Dienstleistungsqualität" definiert und anschließend Ziele einer nachhaltigen Daseinsvorsorge und Dienstleistungsqualität sowie entsprechende Qualitätskriterien aufgestellt. Die abschließenden Thesen skizzieren die mögliche Rolle einer nachhaltigen Daseinsvorsorge in einem zunehmenden Wettbewerbsumfeld.
The study "Review of voluntary approaches in the European Union" has been conducted in the context of the project "Feasibility study on demonstration of voluntary approaches for industrial environmental management in China" and aims at evaluating the experience with voluntary agreements between industry and public authorities in the European Union. It is part of a comparative study between Europe and China. The study aims at providing a basis for adoption and further development of voluntary agreements in China. Therefore, conceptual information and case studies are presented in order to illustrate the instrument, its chances and risks as well as success factors.
Achieving sustainable mobility in developing countries : suggestions for a post-2012 agreement
(2009)
In December 2009, countries meet in Copenhagen to establish a new global climate agreement. This article links the need for reducing transport-related greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries with the current international climate negotiations. Arguing that a sustainable transport approach requires comprehensive policy packages, it assesses the suitability of current climate negotiation proposals in promoting sustainable transport. The project-based approach under the current climate regime incentivises neither comprehensive sustainable transport and mobility policies, nor sufficient numbers of local projects. Current proposals to increase efforts by developing countries, to reform the Clean Development Mechanism, and to create new emission trading mechanisms are promising but still have to overcome several obstacles. One obstacle involves how to properly assess the impact of actions while maintaining streamlined procedures. The authors conclude from their analysis that the best way forward would be to establish an international mitigation fund with a dedicated transport window financed by industrialised countries. This fund would enable developing countries to implement national policies and local projects. Developing countries would outline low-carbon development strategies, including a sectoral strategy for low-carbon transport.
Towards an effective and equitable climate change agreement : a Wuppertal proposal for Copenhagen
(2009)
This paper presents comprehensive proposals for the post-2012 climate regime: the scale of the challenge, emission targets for industrialised countries, increased actions by Southern countries, financing, technology, adaptation and deforestation. The proposals are based on ongoing research by the Wuppertal Institute.