Recently, Secretary General Bernhard Ensink represented the ECF at the International Transport Forum (ITF) Annual Consultation with International Organizations on the next summit” Green and Inclusive Transport. A key contribution that Bernhard made was regarding questions on infrastructure for green and inclusive transport. He argued that:

Decisions on investment priorities should be led by good, inclusive cost-benefit analysis, taking into account all externalities (emissions; energy; social aspects; health; economy etc.) of the planned infrastructure. Even infrastructure that has already been planned should be evaluated based upon new insights and changes of policies regarding the definition of green and inclusive transport.

Dr. B. Ensink

Whilst at the Consultation, ITF Secretary General José Viegas presented a new project: Decarbonising Transport . Bernard commented on this as well, saying that whilst he welcomed the project, he hoped that it would include all modes, such as walking and cycling as well. Viegas stated, when introducing the project, that where there is a lack of data – such as the case with walking and cycling- we should create and collect the data to be able to use the right modeling.

During the introduction, the project was structured and framed with ‘renewable energies’ and ‘vehicle propulsion technologies’ as key technologies, and ‘infrastructure’ and ‘land-use’ under ‘other instruments’, which could suggest that the project will be overly focused on the ‘key’ technologies, and not take into account the need to improve the last two, which play an incredibly important role in producing sustainable transport, i.e changing infrastructure and land use in favour of more walking, cycling and public transport. The ECF will work with the ITF, as at the meeting Viegas asked for helping identifying sources for data on cycling, as well as researchers and institutions that could work on collecting the necessary data.

In general, Bernhard found the consultation beneficial, but stressed there was much work to be done: “All speakers and participants at ITF 2016 should be aware that you can’t discuss ‘green and inclusive transport’ without talking about cycling. I hope that the role national governments and international institutions have to play for cycling will be included in all sessions. We need Strategies for Cycling on all levels, from local to global!”

At the summit in May,  Bernhard will speak at a side event, ‘Save the Vulnerable: increasing road safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists’. Bernhard will be joined at the summit by other ECF members: Burkhard Stork, CEO of ECF member ADFC will join him, as will Klaus Bondam, CEO of DCF, who will also speak at a panel session entitled ‘New approaches for urban freight delivery’.