Transport Criteria

This fact sheet from the Climate Bonds Initiative outlines the Transport Criteria under the Climate Bonds Standard, detailing the eligibility of transport projects for green bond certification to support global decarbonisation targets.

• The transport sector is a significant contributor to global emissions, with the IPCC estimating in 2014 that it accounts for approximately 23% of all energy-related CO2 emissions globally and 14% of total GHG emissions. Within this, road transportation for passengers and freight is responsible for 73% of those CO2 emissions.
• There is a significant gap between current investment and the estimated needs for a below 2-degrees Celsius warming scenario, which may require up to USD 17.5 trillion per year between 2017 and 2060. Current total transport investment is estimated at around USD 1.4 and 2.1 trillion per year.
• Eligible use-of-proceeds for transport systems include capital and operating expenditure for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, public passenger transport by road, freight transport by road, passenger and freight rail rolling stock, railway networks and lines, and infrastructure for low carbon transport. This also extends to supporting components like electric batteries or zero direct emissions vehicles for other industries, such as waste collection.
• Certification eligibility is based on whether the transport mode is electric, hydrogen, or other zero-direct emissions. Projects that are not zero-direct emissions must meet operational emission thresholds: less than 50g passenger-km for passenger transport and less than 25g tonne-km for freight transport. Certain projects are automatically green, such as public walking or cycling infrastructure, retrofits for public transport infrastructure, and dedicated recharging/refuelling for zero emissions vehicles. Projects involving biofuels, fossil fuel transport by road, non-zero-direct emissions road freight, parking, and new roads are automatically excluded.
• The Transport Criteria have been applied to various global issuers, including Rumo in Brazil for rail freight locomotives, Porsche AG for the electric Taycan model, and Russian Railways for commuter and intercity rolling stock. Large-scale programmatic issuers include the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority (USD 10.4bn for electrified rail), Société du Grand Paris (over USD 9bn for metro lines in Ile-de-France), and JRRT (nearly JPY 267bn for network upgrades including the Shinkansen).

APA

Climate Bonds Initiative (2020). Transport Criteria. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/drupal-files/files/CBI-Transport_Criteria-04B.pdf

Chicago

Climate Bonds Initiative. Transport Criteria. 2020. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/drupal-files/files/CBI-Transport_Criteria-04B.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Bonds Initiative |title=Transport Criteria |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/drupal-files/files/CBI-Transport_Criteria-04B.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatebondsinitiative2020transport, author = {{Climate Bonds Initiative}}, title = {{Transport Criteria}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/drupal-files/files/CBI-Transport_Criteria-04B.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }