ENHANCING NDCs: OPPORTUNITIES IN TRANSPORT

The document argues that current NDCs insufficiently address the transport sector, which accounts for approximately one-quarter of energy-related CO2 emissions. It advocates for a comprehensive approach based on the "Avoid-Shift-Improve" framework: avoiding unnecessary travel through land-use planning, shifting to low-carbon modes like public transit and cycling, and improving vehicle technology via electrification and fuel efficiency. The authors identify three primary opportunities for NDC enhancement: accelerating electrification and fuel economy, amplifying avoid-and-shift measures, and addressing freight emissions through clean fuels and information technology.

• Current transportation trends are unsustainable and projected to generate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 that are three to six times higher than scenarios consistent with the Paris Agreement.
• Initial NDCs show a significant gap in quantitative transport targets; while over 150 countries mentioned transport-related mitigation, only 35 included quantified targets for the sector.
• Most transport mitigation measures in NDCs rely on the "Improve" approach, while "Avoid" and "Shift" strategies are underutilized, despite their potential to reduce GHG intensity by 20 to 50 percent by 2050.
• Freight transport is largely neglected in NDCs despite accounting for approximately 40 percent of total transport emissions, with only 13 NDCs communicating direct targets or policies for the subsector.
• The cost of lithium-ion batteries has decreased by more than 80 percent since 2010, making the electrification of passenger and commercial transport more feasible and economical.
• Integrating electric vehicles into the power grid can enhance renewable energy adoption by providing distributed energy storage and facilitating demand-response measures.
• Removing fossil fuel subsidies is identified as a high-impact "Avoid" strategy that could reduce global carbon emissions by 6.4–8.2 percent by 2050.
• A dramatic increase in cycling could potentially save society US$24 trillion in energy, vehicle, and infrastructure costs between 2015 and 2050 while cutting urban passenger transport CO2 emissions by nearly 11 percent by 2050.
• Electrifying heavy-duty trucking can significantly reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, which are a major contributor to ground-level ozone and particulate matter.
• There is a systemic lack of alignment between national transport plans and NDCs, often due to differing timelines (e.g., 2020 vs 2030) and the exclusion of transport planning authorities from the NDC process.

APA

Fransen, T., Welle, B., Gorguinpour, C., McCall, M., Song, R., & Tankou, A. (2019). ENHANCING NDCs: OPPORTUNITIES IN TRANSPORT. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/enhancing-ndcs-opportunities-transport.pdf

Chicago

Fransen, Taryn, Benjamin Welle, Camron Gorguinpour, Margaret McCall, Ranping Song, and Alexander Tankou. ENHANCING NDCs: OPPORTUNITIES IN TRANSPORT. World Resources Institute, 2019. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/enhancing-ndcs-opportunities-transport.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Fransen |first1=Taryn |last2=Welle |first2=Benjamin |last3=Gorguinpour |first3=Camron |last4=McCall |first4=Margaret |last5=Song |first5=Ranping |last6=Tankou |first6=Alexander |title=ENHANCING NDCs: OPPORTUNITIES IN TRANSPORT |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=November 2019 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/enhancing-ndcs-opportunities-transport.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fransen2019enhancing, author = {Fransen, Taryn and Welle, Benjamin and Gorguinpour, Camron and McCall, Margaret and Song, Ranping and Tankou, Alexander}, title = {{ENHANCING NDCs: OPPORTUNITIES IN TRANSPORT}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/enhancing-ndcs-opportunities-transport.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }