Climate Action Pathway: Transport. Action Table

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Category: UNFCCC

Document Type: Publication

Role: Main

Global Transport Decarbonization Framework (Avoid-Shift-Improve) by Marrakech Partnership, 2021

The Climate Action Pathway: Transport Action Table, published by the Marrakech Partnership in 2021, provides a global framework and guidance for decarbonizing the transport sector. Its purpose is to assist Parties and non-Party stakeholders in developing and implementing transport-decarbonizing strategies tailored to their specific economic and geographical realities, complementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The scope covers both passenger and freight transport across land (road, rail), maritime, and aviation sectors. The core approach is structured around the mitigation concept of "Avoid-Shift-Improve": "Avoid" focuses on reducing the need for travel and travel distance; "Shift" promotes moving to more sustainable modes like walking, cycling, public transport, and rail freight; and "Improve" involves transitioning to zero-emission vehicles, enhancing fuel and operational efficiency, and improving system efficiency. The framework also includes a specific impact area for resilient transport, integrating adaptation objectives. While the publication outlines a structure and approach for action, this excerpt does not specify concrete deadlines or compliance dates for implementing the pathway's recommendations. It notes that despite transport's role in NDCs, current pledges would still leave 2030 emissions around 2015 levels, requiring further action to meet a 2-degree scenario.

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Full text:

CLIMATE ACTION PATHWAY
TRANSPORT
Action Table
2021

ACTION TABLE STRUCTURE AND APPROACH
The Transport Action Table has been structured based on the mitigation concept of “Avoid-Shift-Improve”, which encompasses changes in transport demand and
supply for both passenger and freight transport. “Avoid” refers to reductions in the need to travel, travel distance and number of trips, especially those made by
private motorized vehicles, without compromising accessibility. “Shift” implies a shift to more sustainable modes, such as rail for freight, and walking, cycling and
public transport for passenger transport, as well as maintaining existing sustainable mode shares. “Improve” includes substitution of all vehicles with zero-emission
alternatives when possible, the improvement made to fuel and operational efficiency for unavoidable travel and improvement of systems efficiency. The six impact
areas are categorized according to this concept, while also taking into account the sectoral needs for land transport, including road and rail, maritime transport and
aviation, as well as a specific impact area for resilient transport focusing on adaptation (see figure 1). This recognizes that to be successful, any mitigation initiative
must be resilient to future climate conditions, and that investments in Avoid-Shift-Improve actions can be thoughtfully designed to improve resilience as an integrated
objective. Other cross-cutting issues, such as gender equality and finance, are also reflected in various impact areas. The Transport Pathway is closely linked to the
other thematic pathways, and specific linkages are indicated in the impact areas. Although the Transport Pathway developed is not region-specific, it is important for
Parties and non-Party stakeholders to recognize the need to tailor decarbonizing pathways according to their priorities and identify transport-decarbonizing strategies
based on the economic and geographical realities of different country groups. The differences in existing transport services, infrastructure, challenges and needs are
vast around the world. Hence, although the Pathway can be used as a guide for all countries, specific measures and their implementation will need to be further
defined depending on the characteristics of each country. This Pathway can also be used to complement nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Although
around 80 per cent of the submitted NDCs acknowledge transport’s role in carbon dioxide (CO ) emission mitigation efforts, only 60 per cent of them proposed
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transport mitigation measures, and only 10 per cent defined a specific transport-sector CO reduction target.1,2 If all countries implement their NDC transport pledges,
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transport CO emissions in 2030 would still be around the 2015 level. In this case, transport CO emissions would be 1,400 megatonnes less than in a baseline scenario
2 2
that assumes some limited decarbonization action, but achieving a 2-degree scenario would require further reductions of around 600 megatonnes of CO , which
2
clearly shows the need for more ambitious climate actions for transport.
For road transport, shipping and aviation, S-curves and system maps have been developed. They present potential adoption rates for important technological
subsector innovations chosen by the Climate Champions, as well as applicable stakeholder relationships in the particular industries.
1 https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/transport-co2-paris-climate-agreement-ndcs.pdf.
2 https://www.changing-transport.org/tracker.
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Structure & Approach Land Transport 1) Avoid 2) Shift 3) Resilient Transport 4) Improve Land Transport Shipping 5) Improve Shipping Aviation 6) Improve Aviation Contributions

OVERVIEW – SECTOR STRUCTURE
Figure 1. Six Impact areas in the Transport Pathway
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Structure & Approach Land Transport 1) Avoid 2) Shift 3) Resilient Transport 4) Improve Land Transport Shipping 5) Improve Shipping Aviation 6) Improve Aviation Contributions

TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Action Table Structure and Approach ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
II. Overview – Sector Structure ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
III. Land Transport Change Levers .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
a. Zero-Emission Light-Duty Vehicles S-curve ............................................................................................................................................................................... 6
b. Land Transport SystemS Map (Road transport)........................................................................................................................................................................ 8
c. Impact Area 1: Reduce Transport Demand and Distance ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
d. Impact Area 2: Shift to more environment friendly and lower carbon modes of transport ..................................................................................................16
e. Impact Area 3: Resilient Transport Systems, Infrastructure and Vehicles..............................................................................................................................26

Tags: Adaptation, Aviation, Climate Change, Climate Neutrality, Compliance, Freight, Guidance, Infrastructure, Maritime Planning, Mitigation, Modal Shift, Nap, National Energy And Climate Plans, Policy, Rail, Regulation, Road, Shipping, Spatial Planning, Transport, Unfccc

Original Source