At COP30 UNECE promotes low-carbon and climate-resilient transport systems

Transport systems are vital enablers of economic growth, trade and connectivity, essential for ensuring the continuity of supply chains, access to services, and the overall functioning of economies. Yet, transport also accounts for nearly a quarter of global energy-related CO₂ emissions, whereas increasingly frequent and severe weather events are disrupting transport systems, threatening safety, causing economic losses, and limiting access to workplaces, markets and essential services.

UNECE is responding to these challenges through both mitigation and adaptation work defined in its decarbonization strategy for inland transport adopted in 2024, as well as with its stress-test framework for evaluating the resilience of transport systems, a new template for preparing the inland transport–specific components of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and by developing a globally harmonized methodology for measuring vehicle carbon footprints.

At COP30 side events co-organized with ECLAC and ESCAP, UNECE showcased these tools and explored actions to accelerate the transformation of commitments into concrete actions for a cleaner, more resilient global transport future.

Decarbonizing transport

With over 30,000 components and complex global supply chains, the automotive industry exemplifies the challenge and opportunity for reducing carbon emissions. A key focus is cutting automotive carbon footprints through a technology-neutral cradle-to-grave assessment, which captures emissions across production, use and end-of-life stages.

The UNECE World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) is currently developing the world’s first harmonized methodology to measure vehicles’ carbon footprint throughout their lifecycle – from raw material extraction and manufacturing to use and end-of-life. Expected to be adopted in March 2026, this important milestone will provide governments and industry with a common framework for quantifying and comparing vehicle emissions, supporting evidence-based policymaking and advancing the transition to truly sustainable mobility.

With participation of Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, Climate Envoy of The Netherlands, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), views were exchanged on the potential for greater alignment between the maritime and inland transport sectors, especially on the fuel cycle from the well-to-wheel or well-to wake (WtW) aligning carbon accounting methodologies for various fuel types. Participants also noted the longer-term opportunity of developing interoperable data systems that could support more consistent traceability of upstream emissions across transport modes—an area that remains at an early stage of exploration.

To accelerate the shift to cleaner mobility, UNECE is advancing regulatory work on battery durability and emphasizing the link between vehicles and the renewable energy systems that sustain them through its e-Mobility Task Force.

Finally, with its new template for integrating the transport sector into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), UNECE aims to help countries to systematically reflect the transport sector’s role in their climate commitments. The template offers clear indicators and metrics for measuring emission reductions and qualitative guidance for integrating transport actions into broader development strategies, to help member States translate their transport decarbonization efforts into credible, measurable and transparent national reporting.

These initiatives and tools build on the UNECE Inland Transport Committee’s Decarbonization Strategy. Together, they form a coherent framework that connects global standards to national implementation, and exemplify how regulation, innovation, and data can work hand in hand to transform ambition into tangible outcomes and accelerate the global transition to low-carbon, resilient mobility systems, noted Dmitry Mariyasin, UNECE Deputy Executive Secretary.

Building climate resilience

To limit the growing economic and social costs of climate-related disruptions, urgent action is needed to strengthen both new and existing inland transport systems. A key first step lies in understanding exposure to climate hazards and assessing the sensitivity and vulnerability of infrastructure and operations.

At a side-event co-organized with ECLAC, UNECE showcased how countries and international organizations are advancing this effort through geospatial climate risk analysis, data integration, and collaborative tools, such as the International Transport Infrastructure Observatory (ITIO).

This data-driven platform brings together transport network information and overlays it with climate hazard data. It already includes climate exposure data for Europe, Central Asia, North America and the Middle East, enabling policymakers in these regions to visualize risks and identify transport systems in need of more detailed vulnerability assessments. The platform will be expanded to include additional regions and datasets to create a truly global resource for climate-resilient transport planning.

As part of efforts to broaden the geographic scope of climate-resilient transport planning, UNECE welcomed a proposal by the South American Infrastructure Observatory of the Brasilia Consensus to collaborate with the ITIO platform and with ECLAC on incorporating GIS data and climate hazard overlays for South American transport networks. The invitation was extended during the COP30 side event by Mr. Murilo Lubambo, General Coordinator for South American Integration Affairs at the Ministry of Planning and Budget on behalf of the Brazilian Government.

Established on 30 May 2023, the Brasilia Consensus brings together twelve South American nations—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela—with the shared objective of strengthening regional ties and advancing integration. This initiative marks a significant step toward creating a truly global platform for climate-informed transport planning.

Moreover, participants were informed about the UNECE stress-test framework for evaluating the resilience of transport systems helps countries determine whether a specific transport system can withstand a series of stress tests related to defined hazard scenarios and thus be assessed as resilient to such scenarios. For transport systems that do not pass these stress tests, targeted adaptation programmes must be put in place. UNECE is supporting member States in developing adaptation pathways: forward-looking strategies that guide investment and maintenance decisions under different climate scenarios.

By combining infrastructure and hazard data, scientific projections can be translated into actionable insights, “identifying where extreme heat might disrupt a key corridor, where flood-risk mitigation is most urgent, or where maintenance funding will yield the greatest resilience gains, empowering policymakers to act before disasters strike,” said Mr. Mariyasin.