Over 400 organisations from 73 countries signed the PATH (Partnership for Active Travel and Health) open letter calling on government and city leaders to invest more in walking and cycling to achieve climate goals and improve people’s lives.

Signatories to the letter came from a wide variety of organisations including those working for road safety, clean air, public health and public transport, as well as walking and cycling advocacy groups.  

During the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, the letter was presented to representatives of governments from Egypt, Ethiopia, The Netherlands and Portugal.  The ambitions of the letter, as well as the findings of PATH’s new report Make way for walking and cycling, were also shared and promoted by PATH members at COP27 in a range of meetings, talks and official UNFCCC side events.

Sessions about active travel covered finance, gender, integration with public transport, the challenges and opportunities for African cities and more.  New initiatives for active travel, that will help deliver on these ambitions were announced at COP27 by PATH partners including:

• Training and research by the Walk21 Foundation and the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation, in collaboration with – THE PEP development of the Pan-European Masterplan for Walking;
• A call for an Active Mobility Fund by the Transport Decarbonisation Alliance, with seed funding from the Dutch Government announced by Minister Vivianne Heijnen.

Whereas last year’s COP26 featured a Transport Day and a Transport Declaration – which was amended to highlight the importance of active travel following intense pressure from advocacy groups – the COP27 paid less attention to transport, and to the greater role walking and cycling must play in decarbonising transport. However, the strength of commitment demonstrated from the signatories to the letter indicate the partnership will continue to seek to raise further awareness and unlock walking and cycling’s potential to accelerate the achievement of climate goals and other benefits, through greater prioritisation and investment, including through national transport, health and environment strategies. Next steps include working to strengthen inclusion of walking and cycling within Nationally Determined Contributions and Voluntary National Reviews.

Sheila Watson, Deputy Director of the FIA Foundation, said:

‘Enabling more people to walk and cycle safely is essential to reducing transport’s 27% share of carbon emissions and achieving the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, yet walking and cycling continue to lack priority in the transport and mobility mix and the wider climate agenda. Our open letter on the occasion of COP27 was published to draw attention to this and to call for greater action on the part of governments and city leaders.’

Isabella Burczak, UCI said

‘“’We are delighted that over 400 organisations from across the globe joined our call to action by signing this letter. This underscores how much support there is for prioritising and investing more in walking and cycling as one of the best solutions we have to achieve climate goals, improve public health and deliver a range of other societal benefits.’

Lucas Harms, Dutch Cycling Embassy, said:

”PATH and the wider walking and cycling community and hundreds of supporting organisations have made their voices heard at COP27. Going forwards we will continue to call for national and city governments to commit to prioritising and investing in walking and cycling – including strategies, plans, funding and concrete actions for infrastructure, campaigns, land use planning, integration with public transport, and capacity building.’

www.pathforwalkingcycling.com

About PATH – Partnership for Active Travel and Health

PATH is a new global coalition calling on governments and cities to make a real commitment to walking and cycling as a key solution to the climate, health and equity challenges we face.

PATH partners seek to unlock walking and cycling’s potential to accelerate the achievement of climate goals and other benefits, through greater prioritisation and investment including through national transport, health and environment strategies and other policy instruments. It is comprised of leading organisations in the sustainable mobility community who collaborate to promote walking and cycling and is coordinated by a core group consisting of the FIA Foundation – who are funding the coordination work – Walk21, the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

PATH partners include:

For further information, contact:

FIA Foundation
Kate Turner
k.turner@fiafoundation.org
+44 (0) 787 989 32 22

European Cyclists’ Federation
Michael Brennan
m.brennan@ecf.com
+32 (0) 483 08 38 81

Walk21
Jim Walker
jim.walker@walk21.com

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The Partnership for Active Travel and Health, of which Walk21 is part of, issued the letter to call for more investments in walking and cycling to achieve climate goals and improve people’s lives. Walking and cycling lack priority in the transport and mobility mix and the climate agenda, but are essential to achieving the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. 

Enabling a bigger share of urban trips to be walked and cycled is a quick, affordable and reliable way to significantly reduce transport emissions, traffic congestion and road casualties, and will also deliver improved public health, stronger economies and fairer societies.

The letter was handed over to delegations of Egypt, Ethiopia, Portugal, The Netherlands.

Mr El Sayed Metwalli, CEO of Egypt's Land Transport Regulatory Authority, Egypt

Mr Jorge Delgado, State Secretary for Urban Mobility, Portugal

Ms Vivianne Heijnen, Minister for the Environment, The Netherlands

Mr Fitsumbrhan Tsegaye Beyene, Advisor to the Minister of Transport, Ethiopia

Over 400 organisations signed the letter

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15 November 2022 @ 15:00 – 16:30 Egypt time UTC+2

At last year’s COP26, pressure from advocacy groups led to a last-minute insertion in the Transport Declaration which acknowledged the importance of active travel, public and shared transport in achieving climate goals:

‘We recognize that alongside the shift to zero emission vehicles, a sustainable future for road transport will require wider system transformation, including support for active travel, public and shared transport, as well as addressing the full value chain impacts from vehicle production, use and disposal.‘

Indeed, sustainable modes such as walking, cycling, public transport and rail must play a much greater role in the transport and mobility mix if we are to ever achieve Paris Agreement targets. Yet these modes often lack the priority and funding they require to maximise the environmental, health, socioeconomic and liveability benefits they can deliver.

A successful wider system transformation towards these sustainable modes will require not only prioritisation and funding but also an integrated approach between active and public transport that nurtures the symbiotic relationship between walking, cycling and public transit in our cities.

Moderator: Lucie Anderton (UIC).

Confirmed speakers: Professor Juan Carlos Munoz (Minister of Transport, Santiago, Chile), Bronwen Thornton (Walk21), Francois Davenne (UIC), Jill Warren (ECF), Mohamed Mezgahani (UITP), Cecile Texier (Alstom Transport) Cecilia Andersson (UN Habitat), Eamon Ryan (Minister for Transport and Minister for Climate of Ireland), Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Land Transport Authority, Singapore).

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The policy training is being announced on 15^th November 2022 at 3pm, during the event titled The Role of Active Travel and Public Transport in the New Mobility Paradigm, at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The announcement responds to a core ambition of the COP Presidency call for support for Low Carbon Transport for Urban Sustainability (LOTUS)[1].

The training will be coordinated by Walk21 and operate between March and June 2023. Walking policy support will target 56 national governments in the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP).

By signing the Vienna Declaration Building forward better by transforming to new, clean, safe, healthy and inclusive mobility and transport at the 5^th High Level Meeting on Transport, Health and Environment of THE PEP in 2021, national ministers of the pan-European Region agreed to ‘Develop and implement national walking and cycling policies in every country’ in parallel to the development of an active travel masterplan for the region to be adopted in 2025[2].

Integral to the training programme, will be three new pieces of research:

• Review and evaluation of the existing national walking policies in the pan-European region;
• Collation of the published recommended actions that a national government should make that are relevant to better walking outcomes;
• Case study examples of effective walking policy processes at national or sub regional level.

National government active in national walking policies from the pan-European region include, Armenia, Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye and the UK represented by Scotland. Representatives from as many countries from the pan-European region as possible will also be encouraged to join the group.

Bronwen Thornton, CEO of Walk21, said:

‘We are delighted that the collaboration with VREF to set up this Walking Policy Training. It enables us to respond positively to the many calls from governments that we have received seeking the knowledge, processes and tools that are required to produce effective national walking policies.’

Henrik Nolmark, Director of Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, said:

‘We are specifically supporting Walk21 with this programme as part of our commitment to strengthen international research and research capacity on walking as a mode of transport, in ways that can contribute to more equitable access and sustainable mobility in urban transport.’

NOTES

1. Walk21 is an international not-for-profit which supports everyone’s right to walk in a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment by providing evidence, tools, training and accreditation to a global network of concerned communities, politicians, academics and practitioners. The aim is to make cities more walkable to increase access to basic services; enhance road safety and public health; improve gender equality; and ensure accessible, equitable, sustainable transport systems. More information can be found here: https://walk21.com/
2. VREF, the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, is the collective name under which four foundations collaborate to finance research and education in the areas of transportation, environment and energy. Since the turn of the Century, these foundations – through VREF – have focused on the area Future Urban Transport (FUT) with the subtitle, “How to deal with complexity.” The overriding goal is to strengthen accessibility for all groups while at the same time radically reduce negative local and global environmental impacts of transportation. More information can be found here: https://vref.se/about-vref/
3. The VREF Walking program aims to encompass research and other initiatives that focus on walking both in itself and as part of a travel chain that also includes other modes of transport, such as public transport. The scientific profile of the program is built around four themes: Conceptualizing and critically appraising walking as a mode of transport; Walking as transport in everyday urban life; equity issues; Governance, policy and urban planning for walking as a mode of transport; Services, tools and business models to facilitate walking as a mode of transport. More information can be found here: https://vref.se/walking/
4. Transport-Health-Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP) is a unique tripartite pan-European policy platform bringing together the ministries of transport, health and environment on an equal footing. THE PEP is supporting the transformation to climate friendly and health promoting mobility sharing good practices and developing joint projects in the 56 countries of the pan-European region. It is jointly serviced by  the Sustainable Transport and Environment Divisions of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe). Countries that will be invited for the first national walking policy support programme: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America and Uzbekistan. More information can be found here: https://unece.org/transport-health-environment-pep-0

ENDS

For more information:

• Walk21 CEO, Bronwen Thornton: brownen.thornton@walk21.com
• VREF Strategic Advisor, Holger Dalkman: hdalkmann@sustain2030.net
• VREF Communications, Karin Henriksson: karin.henriksson@livingcities.se
• THE PEP Secretariat: thepep@un.org

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17 November 2022 – 09:30 – 11:00 Egypt time, UTC+2

The Government of Netherlands, World Resources Institute, Transportation Decarbonisation Alliance, European Cyclists’ Federation, Walk21 and the Dutch Cycling Embassy cordially invite you to attend the COP27 side event ‘Shifting Gear: Accelerating Active Mobility for Future Generations’.

This event will emphasize active mobility as an essential factor in the system approach to sustainable mobility. The session will be closed with the launch of a Call for Action to support Active Mobility Capacity Building.

Active mobility networks are increasingly recognized as sustainable, equitable and healthy solutions for climate impact. They provide lowest emissions and most affordable, cost-efficient accessible modes of transport. Several initiatives have emerged in the past few years to fill the investment gaps in walking and cycling. Most of these initiatives have been focused on the developing world through national and local government investments. Yet the interest in sustainable transport options is growing worldwide, especially in the developing world where these modes are already substantial.

Two panels will highlight the importance of leveraging international financing for active mobility and focus on steps needed, to help accelerating implementation of active mobility infrastructure and policies beyond the creation of financing initiatives.

The session will conclude in a call to action to build capacity for active mobility.

09:30 – Opening statements
Mr Lucas Harms, CEO, Dutch Cycling Embassy (moderator)
Ms Vivianne Heijnen, Minister for the Environment of the Netherlands
Mr Felipe Ramirez, Urban Mobility Director, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

09:50 – Panel 1: Accelerating implementation of active mobility infrastructure and policies
Ms Sharon Dijksma, Mayor of Utrecht and Climate Envoy ICLEI
Mr Manuel de Araujo, Mayor of Quelimane
Ms Bronwen Thornton, CEO, Walk21

10:20 – Panel 2: Leveraging international financing for active mobility
Mr Nicolas Peltier, Director for Transport, World Bank Global
Mr Niklas Hagelberg, UNEP, Global Coordinator Climate Change
Ms Jill Warren, CEO, ECF

10:50 – Transport Decarbonisation Alliance
Launch call to action to support active mobility capacity-building

11:00 End of session

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Walk21 will contribute to a number of sessions of the 27^th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27). CEO Bronwen Thornton will emphasize the value of walking as part of a just transition to a low carbon future. This year there is growing momentum for recognising and reframing our transport systems to support active transport and to foster its place in our transport planning.

Friday 11 November – Unlocking a pathway to low carbon transport in African cities without compromising economic growth

Globally, nearly a quarter of all energy-related carbon emissions come from the transport sector, making transport critical to achieving the ambitious Paris Agreement. The contribution from African countries to transport emissions has historically been low compared to the rest of the world, but they are increasing in line with increased prosperity and growing economies.

This session explores how economic growth in African countries can continue without adding to CO2. Rather than Africa’s need for improved mobility presenting a threat to the environment, could it present an opportunity by identifying new and better ways to develop low-carbon transport pathways?

Chair: Henry Kerali (High Volume Transport; University of Birmingham).

Speakers: Clive Roberts (University of Birmingham); Gary Haq (Stockholm Environment Institute; University of York), Romanus Opiyo (Stockholm Environment Institute), Bronwen Thornton (Walk 21)

More information

Monday 14 November – Women get on board – Sustainable and inclusive transport

This discussion between female leaders in the rail and mobility industries will address the important role of women in transforming and decarbonising transport, working towards a more gender balanced workforce and ensuring a just transition and to better meet the needs of all passengers.

Panelists will discuss particular local challenges and speak about how the required transformation can be accelerated through increased global collaboration, putting forward the key benefits of policies that promote the use of public transport and rail as a way of achieving climate goals, and boosting accessibility and inclusion.

The discussion will put forward the key benefits of policies that promote the use of public transport and rail as a way of achieving climate goals, and boosting accessibility and inclusion.

Moderator: Lucie Anderton, UIC (confirmed)

Keynote speaker: Dr. Abou-Zeid Amani (African Union Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure)

Panel: Abou-Zeid Amani (African Union Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure), Dagmawit Moges Bekele (Minister of Transport and Logistics, TBC), Cecile Texier 9Alstom Transport), Vera Fiorani (FS Italiane), Bronwen Thornton, Walk21)

watch the recording

Tuesday 15 November – SLOCAT Transport Day

This year’s edition of SLOCAT Transport Day at COP is dedicated to the topic of enabling meaningful investment across these modes towards a transformative systemic shift in mobility. At COP27 Sharm el Sheikh, governments, multilateral organisations, international financial institutions and national development banks must act to meaningfully scale-up walking, cycling and public transport systems, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

The SLOCAT Partnership calls on these stakeholders to enable walking, cycling and public transport solutions with specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based action in six areas.

Through Transport Days, the SLOCAT Partnership is leveraged to set ambitious global agendas and catalyse new thinking and solutions for the urgent transformation of transport and mobility systems as a solution to many of the world’s climate and sustainability challenges.

The outcomes of this event will feed into SLOCAT’s work in support of ambitious national and subnational climate strategies, as well as into our engagement in the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement. Moreover, they will be conveyed to the Egyptian COP27 Presidency as a complement to their leadership towards a COP27 Sustainable Urban Transport Initiative.

SLOCAT TRELLO BOARD SLOCAT Transport Community Engagement at COP27 - read the summary

Tuesday 15 November – The Role of Active Travel and Public Transport in the New Mobility Paradigm

At last year’s COP26, pressure from advocacy groups led to a last-minute insertion in the Transport Declaration which acknowledged the importance of active travel, public and shared transport in achieving climate goals:

‘We recognize that alongside the shift to zero emission vehicles, a sustainable future for road transport will require wider system transformation, including support for active travel, public and shared transport, as well as addressing the full value chain impacts from vehicle production, use and disposal.‘

Indeed, sustainable modes such as walking, cycling, public transport and rail must play a much greater role in the transport and mobility mix if we are to ever achieve Paris Agreement targets. Yet these modes often lack the priority and funding they require to maximise the environmental, health, socioeconomic and liveability benefits they can deliver.

A successful wider system transformation towards these sustainable modes will require not only prioritisation and funding but also an integrated approach between active and public transport that nurtures the symbiotic relationship between walking, cycling and public transit in our cities.

Moderator: Carolina Chantrill, Asociación Sustentar

Keynote: Pudence Rubingisa (Mayor of Kigali, Rwanda)
Keynote: Bronwen Thornton (Walk21)

Panel discussion: Francois Davenne (UIC), Jill Warren (ECF), Mohamed Mezgahani (UITP), Cecile Texier (Alstom), Cecilia Andersson (UN Habitat), 

Watch the recording of the session

Thursday 17 November – Shifting Gear: Accelerating Active Mobility for Future Generations

MORE INFORMATION REGISTRATIONS (IN-PERSON EVENT) Watch the session recording

Thursday 17 November – Presidency Session for Solutions Day

Solutions Day will bring together government representatives and businesses and innovators to share their experiences and their ideas with the aim of spreading awareness, sharing experiences and best practices and perhaps building future alliances and collaborations.

Sustainable cities, green buildings and resilient infrastructures are all part of the paradigm shift envisaged in the critical decade and beyond, with an aim to achieve a transformative implementation building on agreed deliverables under different agreements and a further ambitious pledge to reduce climate impacts and consider the role of cities in combating climate change.

Sustainable transport, is another key sector that provides direct and cross cutting impact on climate change, pollution, quality of living and efficiency, in this regard it is important to highlight potentials for this sector, success stories and available opportunities.

programme

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The PATH coalition seeks to unlock walking and cycling’s potential to accelerate the achievement of climate goals and other benefits, through greater prioritisation and investment, including through national transport, health and environment strategies and through Nationally Determined Contributions and Voluntary National Reviews.

Enabling more people to walk and cycle safely can play a greater role in achieving climate goals, and is a quick, affordable and reliable way to lower transport emissions while improving public health, strengthening the economy and supporting a fairer, more equitable society. Walking and cycling deliver on more Sustainable Development Goals than any other transport mode and have enormous further potential, yet they are still under-prioritised in the transport and mobility mix and the wider climate agenda.

Click here to read and sign the letter:

Report: Make way for walking and cycling

The campaign is supported with the report Make Way for Walking and Cycling that was issued with the launch of the PATH partnership. The report the draws on a wealth of existing research and studies to highlight walking and cycling’s benefits and enormous further potential for the climate, air quality, health and well-being.

The report reminds us that transport is the sector with the strongest growth in emissions. However, the potential for replacing motorised vehicle trips with walking and cycling is huge but within our grasp. Walking and cycling lack priority in the transport and mobility mix and the wider climate agenda. PATH believes that a truly sustainable mobility paradigm must include a much larger share of investment in walking and cycling.

PATH Partnership

The Partnership for Active Travel and Health is a new global coalition calling on governments and cities to make a real commitment to active travel. It is comprised of leading organisations in the sustainable mobility community who collaborate to promote walking and cycling and is coordinated by a core group consisting of the FIA Foundation – who are funding the coordination work – Walk21, the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

Bronwen Thornton, CEO of Walk21 said:

‘It is reassuring to see that already a quarter of national climate commitments include walking and cycling actions. With PATH, we aim to support every country to plan and deliver more through their transport commitments to meet the Paris climate goals in an affordable, quick and reliable way’

Jim Walker, Director of Walk21 said:

‘Enabling a bigger share of urban trips to be walked and cycled is a quick, affordable and reliable way to significantly reduce transport emissions, traffic congestion and road casualties, and will also deliver improved public health, stronger economies and fairer societies.’

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