The capacity building workshop “A Pathway towards Decarbonized and Cleaner Mobility in Asia and the Pacific: Starting from the Region’s Key Priorities” was held on 2-4 May 2023, in Jeju, South Korea. The event was co-organized by ICLEI and UNITAR CIFAL Jeju and included a combination of on-site and virtual events, back to back with the 10th International Electric Vehicle Expo. ICLEI took this opportunity to accelerate the transformation to sustainable transportation in the Asian region by strengthening the regional bond to achieve carbon neutrality and sharing knowledge and practices on urban sustainability from a transportation-centered perspective.

 

The workshop provided an opportunity to translate global commitments to carbon neutrality into bold and decisive actions at the regional and national levels. Given that transportation accounts for one-quarter of the total energy-related greenhouse gas emissions at the global level, its decarbonization is expected to have promising and tangible outcomes contributing to achieving carbon neutrality goals. The workshop convened a total of 14 government officials working in the transportation sector and relevant fields from Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It provided them with practical tools and methodologies to deepen and broaden their expertise.

 

ICLEI leveraged a variety of resources to make the workshop informative and fruitful and made significant contributions to the commitment of Asian countries on their way towards sustainable development and carbon neutrality. ICLEI East Asia played a focal role in coordinating the event organization in all stages with UNITAR CIFAL Jeju. They made an opening remark and produced the infographic for the need assessment survey conducted by EACACN. They further extended coordination support to invite a guest speaker from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and helped to showcase urban initiatives for the deployment of electric vehicles.

 

ICLEI South Asia provided coordination support to the development of programs and the engagement of Indonesian and Vietnamese governments through the Community of Practice (CoP) on transport under the Asia LEDS Partnership, whose secretariat is hosted by them. ICLEI World Secretariat and Southeast Asia Secretariat made a remarkable contribution to the provision of a thematic session on Strategy and Policy Guidelines for Low-carbon and Cleaner Mobility with a Special Focus on Key Areas. Bringing their technical insights to the session, they introduced policy-based frameworks for eco-mobility and eco-logistics and city cases for two- and three-wheelers in the Philippines.

 

The three-day workshop ended in great success. The presentations made by the participants on their action plan using the Problem Tree & Solution Tree, the Theory of Change, and the Logical Framework have important implications for the journey of Asian countries towards sustainable transportation and, consequently, carbon neutrality. ICLEI looks forward to the potential contribution to accelerating collaboration and discussion on sustainable mobility in the Asian region with more engagement of East Asian cities.

Mr. Shu Zhu, Regional Director and China Representative of ICLEI East Asia Secretariat, made an opening remark at a hybrid webinar on the second day of the event.

Ms. Tu-My Tran, on behalf of Sustainable Mobility Team at ICLEI World Secretariat, joined the thematic session via a recorded video.

Mr. Ricardo Marfiga, Jr., on behalf of ICLEI Southeast Asia Secretariat, joined the session via a live streaming.

The participants from Indonesia made a presentation on their action plan for sustainable mobility.

The participants from Vietnam made a presentation on their action plan for sustainable mobility.

 

More details are available at http://www.cifaljeju.org/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sub05_3&wr_id=149

Authors: Yeajee Kim (yeajee.kim@iclei.org)