Advisors, counterparts, partners, and beneficiaries of the 19 projects AND 5 EUROCLIMA+ Urban Mobility actions were gathered.
29 September 2021 - On 27, 28 and 29 September, the Urban Mobility sector of the EUROCLIMA+ programme, implemented by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), held the Meeting of the partners and beneficiaries of the EUROCLIMA+ programme Urban Mobility 2021 digitally.
The meeting brought together advisors, counterparts, partners and beneficiaries of the 19 projects and 5 actions for Urban Mobility of EUROCLIMA+ implemented in 13 Latin American countries that support the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the transport sector.
This meeting aimed to share and celebrate project results and achievements, to learn about managing uncertainty in planning and capacity building for project sustainability during the implementation phase, and to contribute to the strengthening of exchange in the region by identifying formats for ongoing cooperation between countries.
The welcome at the opening ceremony was given by Horst Pilger, Head of Sector in the International Partnerships Directorate of the European Commission.
"The transport sector is responsible for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. However, this indicates that there is a very large potential for improvement. The EUROCLIMA+ programme is part of the European Union's ambitions to promote environmental sustainability to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in Latin America," mentioned Horst Pilger.
The meeting was attended by around 70 representatives from local and national governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
Day 1 –How far we have come
The agenda of Monday 27 September was intended for exchanges on achievements, results and lessons learned from the EUROCLIMA+ activities in Urban Mobility. During the roundtables, it was identified that one of the biggest challenges was to adapt the projects to a pandemic context, which was achieved through the acquisition of robust data and information on future urban mobility in a pandemic context.
An important aspect is cooperation and participation. In the face of the challenges, the best result was the establishment of inter-institutional and international coordination that included articulation with the private sector, academia, and civil society.
On the first day it was identified that the National Urban Mobility Policies and Programmes (NUMPs) being developed under the EUROCLIMA+ framework are at the same level of progress, as they are in the stage of defining vision and measures. Political leadership, the relationship with authorities, as well as local heterogeneity and multi-level coordination, are the challenges faced by these projects.
For their part, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) are in the diagnosis and definition of vision and measures stage. One achievement of these projects is to obtain up-to-date data on mobility in cities.
The Pilot Projects are in their final stages, with the expectation of concluding early next year. The most common challenge, apart from the pandemic, was communication among citizens about the mobility paradigm shift.
Day 2 – Managing uncertainties
On the other hand, on Tuesday 27 September, the aim was to develop capacities to manage uncertainties in planning for the future. This was done by analysing the situation generated by the pandemic, sharing lessons learned and sharing how the scenarios for sustainable mobility are changing. It featured a workshop on managing complex systems and uncertainties, management indicators and monitoring systems.
Some of the tips and lessons learned during the second day of the agenda were:
- It is important to incorporate crisis planning into the strategic planning of each project.
- The data will never be sufficient, but it is necessary to move forward and share information with other sectors, previous projects and trainings.
- It is important to develop a group of MRV and data experts to enable collaboration among countries.
Monitoring strategies must be defined that consider the variants of territories, causal chain analysis, and care of the Avoid-Change-Improve approach.
Day 3 – Ensuring sustainability
The final day, Wednesday 27 September, aimed to look ahead to reflect on the sustainability of the projects, identifying possible needs for support once the projects have ended, as well as visualising future cooperation and exchange formats in the region.
"Today we have looked ahead to reflect on the sustainability of the projects, identifying possible needs for support once the projects have ended. Again, the most relevant issues are cooperation and coordination between actors including securing political support. Another issue is implementation, including the financial resources needed for this”, commented Michael Engelskirchen, Coordinator of the Urban Mobility sector of EUROCLIMA+ of GIZ.
As tools to ensure scalability and replicability of Urban Mobility projects, communication, visibility and knowledge management efforts were considered, as well as cooperation formats in the region with partners that integrate the Community of Practice regional "Sustainable Urban Mobility Platform in Latin America".
Next steps
Over time, the community of EUROCLIMA+ project stakeholders has grown not only in numbers but also in confidence, experience and commitment to advance fair and climate-friendly urban mobility. During the meeting, the need to motivate decision-makers and the public in Latin America to join these efforts was identified.
The projects realised through EUROCLIMA+ are the beginning of future public policies at local and national levels to decarbonise the mobility sector and reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions.
"We now need to implement our projects and share our ideas in Latin America to scale up the impact of EUROCLIMA+ in the region," concluded Michael Engelskirchen.
About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German Federal Government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain. Its objective is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries by promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation, resilience, and investment. The Programme is implemented under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the UN Environment Programme.
For more information:
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