Connections Transport & ICT Transport Policies for Climate Change The transformative role transport can play in mitigation and adaptation Stephane Hallegatte and Mook Bangalore The choices developing countries make today in building and expanding transport networks will irreversibly shape development for the next century. That is why urgent steps are needed to ensure that transport development avoids locking in carbon- intensive or high-risk patterns. While investments in urban planning and public transportation pay off Public 2X over the long term, they also entail high up-front transportation costs, making it essential to scale up support from the options can double World Bank Group and other international institutions. the e ectiveness of The commitment to achieving zero net emissions by policies to reduce 2100 made at the Paris climate negotiations cannot urban emissions be achieved without radical changes in how cities grow—and transport planning must be part of green growth strategies. Furthermore, climate-related issues such as food security, extreme weather events, and the health impacts of urban pollution have ties to the quality, affordability, and availability of affordable transport in both rural and urban areas. With many cities in developing countries only now planning transport infrastructure, this is the ideal time to ensure that transport planning incorporates climate-smart and low-carbon priorities. Priority on Transport transportation options in developing country cities means that lower-income residents tend to cluster This Connections note highlights the importance in neighborhoods more exposed to recurrent and of the transport sector for climate change, with extreme weather events. findings and data drawn from the recently released report Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of The issues raised by global climate change—threats Climate Change on Poverty. The report stresses the to food security, increasing vulnerability to weather transformative role transport can play in rural and extremes, and health risks of urban pollution to urban areas in supporting effective climate change name just a few—have linkages to the availability of adaptation and mitigation strategies. Poor rural reliable, affordable transport. Cities in many devel- roads mean that when floods occur farmers cannot oping countries are only now planning to build or get their goods to urban markets, creating price expand their transport infrastructure; now is the spikes for the urban poor and slashing household ideal time for support and interventions that pro- incomes in rural areas. A lack of affordable public mote climate-smart and low-carbon planning. MAY 2016 NOTE 2016 - 7 Transport, Climate Change, and Food areas can succeed only if the restrictions are ac- companied by investments in transport and other Security infrastructure to make it possible for people access to the same or comparable jobs and services. Climate-related damage to agricultural production regularly sends food prices soaring, dispropor- For the cities of the future, well-designed transit- tionately harming poor people. In 2010, flooding in oriented development interventions—taking into Pakistan inundated more than 7,700 square miles account natural risks—can ensure that growing of land and sent wheat prices up by 50 percent. cities generate economic gains and jobs without in- Flooding in Guatemala caused by tropical storm creasing exposure to natural risks. The World Bank Agatha in 2010 severed routes linking rural and ur- Group is leading efforts to make hazard data more ban areas, preventing food from reaching markets. available to developers and urban planners through the online platform Geonodes. The corollary is also true: transport can play a role in buffering climate change impacts. For instance, in Burkina Faso, better access to markets has been Transport Policies and Climate found to reduce the volatility of maize prices. Change Improving transport has long been a development Infrastructure decisions taken today are largely ir- priority. Better connectivity can improve access to reversible and will shape the city’s urban form for finance (making banks more accessible), to health the next century and beyond. While transport infra- care (making hospitals more accessible), and to structure is undoubtedly expensive, sound planning places of employment (making jobs more acces- up front is far less expensive than retrofitting a sible). This, in turn, helps people cope with envi- carbon-intensive city with cleaner transport op- ronmental and climate shocks. The positive impact tions. Many growing cities in emerging economies of transport on the climate change agenda is an have just such an opportunity today to prioritize important addition to the list of benefits from bet- transit-oriented development and plan efficient and ter connectivity. Better transport links help climate- robust systems from the ground up. This approach affected areas replace local shortages by trading delivers many benefits: fewer cars with less conges- with less affected areas; in disaster situations, they tion and accidents; higher economic efficiency and provide evacuation routes. Thus the existing agen- productivity; and lower vulnerability to disasters. A da of improving rural access directly contributes to more energy-efficient city improves energy security reducing vulnerability to climate change. by mitigating the effects of rising oil prices. Bet- ter still, climate-smart cities give people and firms Transport Helps Make Cities Safer alternatives to increasingly expensive carbon-based modes of transport, thus increasing the political Some four billion people live in urban areas today, feasibility of climate mitigation policies and the more than quadruple the number in 1950. In cit- investment they require. ies such as Mumbai, India, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, poor residents tend to settle in neigh- Countries are taking notice: 68 percent of countries borhoods that are less expensive but also more include transport in their “Nationally-Determined exposed to hazards like floods and storms. A World Contribution” to climate change adaptation and Bank survey of poor households in flood-prone mitigation they committed to in Paris. The far- areas of Mumbai found that more than 75 percent reaching benefits of efficient transport—benefits reported lost work time due to flooding of unpaved that go beyond climate change and extend to pub- roads in the rainy season. Respondents in Ho Chi lic safety and sustainable economic growth—justify Minh City reported that flooded roads made low- this commitment. income factory workers late, resulting in lost wages and fines. Asked what it would take for residents For more information on this topic: to relocate to safe areas in Mumbai, more than half Hallegatte, Stephane, Mook Bangalore, Laura Bonzanigo, responded that they would relocate to a safer area Marianne Fay, Tamaro Kane, Ulf Narloch, Julie Rozenberg, David Treguer, and Adrien Vogt-Schilb. Shock Waves: Managing the if they had access to inexpensive transport, health Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty. Washington, DC: World services, schools, and social networks. Bank, 2016. Climate Change and Development Series. United Nations. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 The take-away is that land use planning to restrict Revision, Highlights. New York: Department of Economic and development in risky areas and encourage it in safe Social Affairs, Population Division, 2014. Connections is a weekly series of knowledge notes from the World Bank Group’s Transport & Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Global Practice. Covering projects, experiences, and front-line developments, the series is produced by Nancy Vandycke and Shokraneh Minovi. The notes are available at http://www.worldbank.org/transport/connections. MAY 2016 NOTE 2016 - 7