The world’s 8 largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) yesterday issued an initial joint report on efforts to advance their commitment to direct $175 billion over 10 years toward more sustainable transport. The committment was a major outcome of the Rio+20 Global Summit on Sustainable Development in June 2012, and promises to have important implications for the direction of sustainable development moving forward. The Progress Report represents the work of the MDBs to arrive at a common definition of sustainable transport and principles for common reporting. The Report shows the MDBs provided more than $20 billion worldwide for transport projects in 2012 and supported numerous efforts to build sustainable transport institutional capacity.
The MDBs defined sustainable transport as being “transport that is accessible, affordable, efficient, financially sustainable, environmentally-friendly, and safe.” They agreed to report on how their transport lending affects economic effectiveness, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, and risks to sustainability or project soundness.
“This report provides a solid foundation for measuring future progress and offers some good examples of how MDBs are working to bring sustainability strategies into the mainstream of their work,” said Michael Replogle, ITDP’s Managing Director for Policy and Founder, an official observer to the MDB process. “This unprecedented collaboration has begun to advance transformational change. Over this decade long commitment, we expect it will help shift priorities of many of the 150 countries touched by MDB lending and technical support.”
Through its leading role in the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport which helped bring about the $175 billion commitment, ITDP will continue to help spur progress in advancing MDB sustainable transport efforts and reporting on this 10-year voluntary commitment.
More information about the report, including a summary of key messages, can be found here.
Photo above: Lanzhou, China is home to Asia’s second-highest capacity BRT. It is the first BRT project funded by the Asian Development Bank. Credit: ITDP China