Page 21 - Linkline Spring 2017

José Viegas, Secretary-General of the ITF, speaking to Deirdre O'Keefe, Department of Transport Tourism and Sport and Paddy Doherty, President of CILT.
environmental work, in particular that on shared mobility and its current major project on decarbonising transport which have been his main focus.
Transport activity currently contributes 23% of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, with this share expected to rise. The ITF Transport Outlook 2017 stated that continued strong growth in demand for mobility would mean that, even in optimistic scenarios, the carbon footprint from transportation in 2050 will still be at 2015 levels of around 7.5 gigatonnes. The challenge for the ITF’s Decarbonising Transport project is to reduce transport CO2 without sacrificing the access and opportunities offered by transport, keeping our societies together and making our economies turn.
Addressing the room, Mr Viegas stated, “the key is to close the gaps between commitments and delivery. It is now up to the transport sector to demonstrate how carbon-free mobility can be achieved”. He stressed that more robust mass transit systems need to be put in place and there needs to be radical changes in policy to make transport sustainable, including shared mobility such as flexible public transit systems and even fleets of self-driving cars that could be shared by users.
It is policy change not reliance on technological advancement, however, that will be the ultimate solution he asserted: “We need to accelerate and make radical policy choices to decarbonise transport. Technology will provide 70% of the possible reductions of carbon footprint to 2050. The rest will come from doing things differently and this is where there is still a lot of potential. We need to think more about shared mobility, new transport modes, etc.”
ITF’s work in this area is moving at a pace. They have already designed a model to reduce carbon emissions which will be available for countries to test as early as May 2019. It appears their objective to establish a commonly-acceptable pathway to achieve zero transport emissions by 2050 is well within sight.
Following a short questions and answers session CEO Pat Treacy concluded the event by presenting Mr Viegas with a gift on behalf of CILT. Our sincere thanks to Mr José Viegas of the International Transport Forum for such a fascinating speech and to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and CILT Skillnet for making the event possible.
For more information on our the CILT Skillnet programme see page 25.
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FORUM (ITF)
The International Transport Forum was created on 18 May 2006 by ministers from 43 countries, however, its roots go back to 1953 when 16 European nations established the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT). The ECMT was established to “coordinate and rationalise European inland transport of international importance” and it remains the legal core of today’s ITF.
An intergovernmental organisation with 57 member countries, the ITF acts as a think tank for transport policy. It focuses on creating policies that improve peoples’ lives and is dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of the role of transport in economic growth, environmental sustainability and social inclusion.
Each year the ITF holds a summit of the world’s transport ministers which serves as a platform for discussion and pre-negotiation of policy issues across all transport modes. This year’s event will be held from 31 May-2 June in Leipzig in Germany and will focus on governance of transport.
CEO of CILT, Pat Treacy, presenting Mr. Viegas with a bottle of Irish whiskey.
The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport 21
JOSÉ VIEGAS