25 July 2014: The UNFCCC Secretariat met with the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) Secretary General and representatives of the Bridging the Gap Initiative (BtG) and the International Union of Railways (UIC) to coordinate their cooperation on sustainable and low-carbon transport initiatives. Areas of planned collaboration include Technical Expert Meetings (TEMs), capacity-building workshops, Transport Days, fact sheets and the formulation of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).

SLoCaT and BtG suggested preparing a joint submission on transport in support of the TEMs being planned by the Secretariat. In addition, SLoCaT and BtG offered their expertise for future regional capacity building meetings on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs).

The Secretariat expressed interest in being involved in Transport Day 2014, the Train to Paris concept, a possible Transport Pavilion at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 21), and Transport Day 2015.

In addition, the Secretariat asked SLoCaT and BtG to contribute to developing country efforts to develop INDCs, especially in connecting their members and interested countries to create dedicated transport sections in their INDCs. SLoCaT and BtG have offered to provide a series of fact sheets for distribution by the Secretariat.

Other items discussed during the meeting include: modeling of mitigation of transport emissions; financing of low carbon transport; follow-up on the transport initiatives for the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit on 23 September 2014; and the High-Level Event on Transport and Climate Change on 22 September 2014.

Participants agreed to follow-up their meeting with a more detailed list of possible joint activities through December 2015, and consideration of a cooperation agreement between the SLoCaT Foundation and the UNFCCC Secretariat.

SLoCaT is a Type II Partnership and is hosted by UN-DESA, with regional focal points at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). It seeks to improve knowledge on sustainable low carbon transport to help develop better policies and catalyze their implementation. [SLoCaT Press Release]