ECF’s Secretary General Bernhard Ensink was invited to represent ECF and the World Cycling Alliance (WCA) at the Climate Action 2016 Summit on “Catalyzing a Sustainable Future” in Washington DC May 5-6 and the Work Day on Sustainable Transport the day before. UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the Climate Action summit to keep the momentum going following the Paris agreement in December. Sustainable mobility was at the forefront and high on the agenda of many leaders present – there is still work to be done but the progress is good!

The interventions of the speakers

Different stakeholders and leaders perceive active mobility and sustainability in different ways, but they all reckon the importance of the former for the development of the latter:

• Laura Tuck, Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, called for vision, a bold agenda and leadership for action to get Sustainable Transport for all (launching their #SuM4all campaign). Key goals: access for all, efficient, safe transport with a low carbon footprint.
• H.E. Dr. Hakima El Haite, Delegate Minister in Charge of Environment for Morocco, stressed the importance of non-state actors (meaning cities, private sector, civil society organizations) and capacity building for sustainable Transport.
• Holger Dalkmann, Director Strategy and Global Policy at the World Research Institute, was clear about the Intended National Determined Commitments (INDCs) the national governments delivered to the UN for the Paris Agreement. “It’s not enough; in this way we end up with 3-4 degrees, not with 2 or 1.5 degrees agreed in Paris”. Dalkmann called for bridging the gaps between the international processes, national governments and local actors with regard to Policy Guidance, Capacity Building and Finance for Sustainable Transport.
• Patrick Oliva, Senior VP working on Sustainable Mobility and Energy Transition at Michelin (a leader in the Paris Process for Mobility and Climate (PPMC) of which ECF is a partner) integrated a modal shift to more walking and cycling into his vision on Synergistic Urban Transformation and showed in an excellent way that the World Bank’s focus on safety should be widened to ‘healthy & safe’, as a healthy lifestyle is very important.
• When asked about the importance of investing in public transport, Dutch Minister for Environment Sharon Dijksma got applause when she added: “But don't underestimate the importance of the bicycle!”

Mobility on top

All the contributions of these global leaders in sustainable transport were an excellent frame to come up with Ensink's intervention, addressing the panel and especially one of the panelist, the representative of the EU Commission, Magda Kopczynska, Director for Innovation and Sustainable Mobility: “Patrick Oliva is right with regards to the importance of cycling, therefore we need the right policies on all levels, from local to international, and we need sound data on cycling to base these policies on. The question is: Will we have enough of the right data on cycling in time? As the EU Transport Ministers last year in Luxembourg called on the EU Commission to come up with an EU Strategy Document on Cycling – should the commission not move on now to develop that document?”

Challenged by the moderator (“Germany gives subsidies for buying electric cars … not everybody thinks that this is a good measure”) Magda Kopczynska stated that this kind of subsidy is something for the state level and therefore she did not want to comment. Instead she spoke about road safety: “The EU improved on road safety, but is not yet successful enough in lowering the carbon footprint and in creating access for all. We have a challenge here; it is difficult to overcome past systems as some European countries are automotive centered because the car industry is so important for their GDP. It is important how we plan our cities. The EU Commission looks to financially support green urban mobility business, smart cities partnership projects, e.g. new public bike rental schemes, but we have to look also beyond transport.”

The steps forward

Now, the hope is that the world leaders that were brought together during this summit will be supportive to ECF's effort to get “More People Cycling More Often” worldwide. On this note, ECF is also trying to get allies for WCA’s initiative to have a World Bicycle Day observed by the UN. What Ensink found is that there are a lot of people that like this idea and that are ready to support it.

Ban Ki-moon, celebrated in Washington as the world leader who put Climate Action on top of the global agenda, showed optimism in this regard, referring to the fact that the US and China, the two biggest economic players, pledged to take climate action. Ahmad Alhendawi, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, and Jasmine Gregory, a 16 years old Climate Activist, also delivered a clear and confident message at the final panel: “It is our future – we have to be heard and to be involved now!”

Ensink reported leaving Washington with a mix of positive feelings about hope, optimism and our tough mission to get ‘More People Cycling, More Often – worldwide’. Last year's document with ECF’s and WCA’s commitment to the UN was called “Cycling Delivers on the Global Goals”. And cycling is already delivering! But it can do so much more. Raising the awareness of the potential of more cycling for climate action and 11 other Global Goals is needed. A World Bicycle Day would help all civil society organizations, politicians and decision makers to promote cycling even more. 

I really hope that all the leaders joining the summit in Washington will support the initiative for a World Bicycle Day, from Ban Ki-moon to young Jasmine - Bernhard Ensink