International Policy

Advocating for sustainable transport with global development institutions.

As the effects of economic development and urbanization place an ever greater strain on transportation networks worldwide, the traditional practices used to meet the rising demand have become unsustainable. The costs associated with a growing automobile fleet and increasing road network capacity include air and noise pollution, accidents, congestion, social inequality, and climate change.

ITDP’s work, centered on climate and transport policy in the multinational development community, helps ensure that global institutions support, enable, and fund socially, economically and environmentally sustainable transportation, particularly in the world’s most rapidly growing cities. While the Paris Agreement was a watershed, it is still non-binding and there is much work to be done to strengthen individual countries’ commitments to reducing GHG, especially from the transport sector.

ITDP works on three tracks to support, develop, and expand sustainable transportation policies:

1. Developing better tools to evaluate the impacts of transportation investments, policies, and choices on the environment;
2. Shifting funding and priorities of global organizations and development banks to support sustainable transport and urban development, and
3. Influencing national transport and urban development policies and funding to support timely development of institutions to scale-up sustainable transport.