Statement Dutch minister for the Environment, Mrs. S. van Veldhoven at the COP24 side event Sustainable Mobility: Global Climate Action on Transport - Getting the transport sector on the fast track, 11 December 2018, Katowice (Poland)

‘We need to accelerate to reach our goals for sustainable mobility and transport. We are not on track.’ Dat zei staatssecretaris Van Veldhoven op het BeNeLux side event Sustainable Mobility: Global Climate Action on Transport - Getting the transport sector on the fast track tijdens COP24 op 11 December 2018 in Katowice (Polen).
Desalniettemin is de bewindspersoon optimistisch over het halen van de doelstellingen op het terrein van schone mobiliteit: ‘Key is: we have to be bold and we have to work together with all trailblazers who see opportunities and are determined to tackle barriers.’

Thank you Mrs. Mariette van Empel;

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, first, I would like to address a special welcome to the Minister of Environment of Luxembourg, Carole Dieschbourg, the Minister of Energy and the Environment of Costa Rica, <NAME>, the Secretary General of the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport, Mrs. Maruxa Cardema, the City Alderman Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy Transition of the city of Rotterdam, Mr. Arno Bonte, and all other professionals here present;

Thank you all for joining us, here at the COP24 in Katowice where we would like to take stock of visions, ambitions and actions;

I am proud that we did succeed to organize this side event;

The TDA has taken the fast track and managed to gain momentum. Momentum for more ambition, acceleration and actions in coalitions and alliances towards clean mobility. And to make new mobility irreversible;

After a week of debate, in depth analyses and great examples, the question is: can we now set the scene for more climate ambition and action?

In my opinion, it is clear: we need to accelerate to reach our goals for sustainable mobility and transport. We are not on track, actually, we are off track;

We have to face the facts. By 2030 compared to 2015

annual passenger traffic will exceed 80 trillion passenger-kilometers - a 50 percent (!) increase;
global freight volumes will grow by 70 percent (!); and
an additional 1.2 billion cars will be on the road - double today’s total.

This context, with the outlook that in 2040, we will reach 55% sales in EV cars on the earliest, I would say: planet, we have a problem;

However, I am an optimist. Because the good news is:
we have the technology,
we have opportunities and
we have the tools.

Key is: we have to be bold and we have to work together with all trailblazers who see opportunities and are determined to tackle barriers;

The Netherlands is ambitious. From 2025 onwards:
all busses will drive zero emission;
the 30 largest cities will embrace zero emission freight delivery in city centers;
our two biggest cities, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, will introduce zero emission zones. And from 2030 onwards:
all new cars sold in the Netherlands will be zero emission.

Nevertheless, we can not be ambitious on her own. We need the support from everybody. Companies, cities and citizens. Key is willingness, entrepreneurship and investments of global players to succeed in our mission! Nobody should stand aside, mobility is from everybody. We are all passengers (well-known quote: there are no passengers on spaceship earth, we are all crew);

The global challenges are clear. It is about our battle against climate change. It is about clean air. It is about the well-being of all our people on this planet. Asking from us, national politicians, to start acting globally too;

If we seriously want to realize the transformation of the transport sector by 2030, we need high ambition, smart approaches and direct action.

As governments we can speed up stronger regulation, we can provide investments in technologies and innovations to speed up market introduction and we need the cooperation with cities and businesses to address the challenges together. However, this can only be realized if we start working together within Europe and worldwide.

Since the start of the COP24 here in Katowice, there were numerous sessions on sustainable transport to inspire, to call for action and to define the next steps.

I sincerely hope that at the end of this event we will find answers. Answers that will help us in getting the transport sector on the fast track;

Thank you.