Sustainable transport as the key to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate, along with the targets of the UN agenda for 2030. An unavoidable revolution in which technological innovation and the sharing of knowledge between different countries play a central role. The second United Nations Global Conference on Sustainable Transport, organised in the capital of the People's Republic of China, concluded with the "Beijing Declaration"; a final document calling on all nations to accelerate the transition towards greener transport by implementing the most innovative technologies.

The growing weight of the health emergency

The Conference brought together more than one hundred countries alongside thousands of experts, activists and business leaders. The final document encourages international cooperation, capacity-building and the sharing of knowledge; efforts should also be made to improve road safety and to enhance epidemic prevention, as well as the transport sector's ability to respond to such challenges.

The event was indeed scheduled at a moment of fundamental importance, just days before the Cop 26 in Glasgow and in the midst of a revolution in the way transport is conceived, one accelerated by the health emergency. The coronavirus, noted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, "has pushed around 120 million people into extreme poverty, 160 million into hunger and has reduced education for around 100 million children. We are further from achieving the sustainable development goals on climate, ocean and biodiversity than we were when they were agreed six years ago."

Cars, ships and planes: the prospects for sustainable transport

Guterres then stressed the importance of decarbonising all modes of transport, in order to reach — at a global level — the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Specific calls were directed at the automotive, maritime and aviation sectors. Starting with four-wheeled vehicles, the major producing countries should phase out the manufacture of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, and developing countries by 2040.

Low-impact ships should become commercially available to all by 2030, in order to achieve zero emissions in the maritime sector by 2050. Companies, finally, are asked to begin using sustainable aviation fuels immediately, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions per passenger by 65 per cent by 2050.