TRL's Copenhagen Diary

Date: 9/12/2009

TRL's contribution to land transport and the UNFCCC climate negotiations

The talks in Copenhagen are playing a pivotal role in determining how countries around the world deal with the issues surrounding climate change. Holger Dalkmann, Programme Manager Climate Change and Sustainable Transport and Ko Sakamoto, Senior Consultant, are in Copenhagen participating in a number of sessions and pre-events. As the talks get underway, we take a look at their Copenhagen Diary to date.

Friday, 4 December 2009

‘Towards a Low Carbon Transport System'

TRL is currently working on a project for the Institution for Transport Policy Studies (ITPS) as part of a wider global study into the effectiveness of different CO2 emission reduction policies in the transport sector. The project is using a backcasting approach to identify different pathways that Europe could take to meet two different scenarios; a 0% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050 on 2000 levels, and a 50% reduction. Holger Dalkmann delivered a presentation to the project steering group about CO2 emission reduction in Europe.

Saturday, 5 December 2009

‘Towards a Low Carbon Transport System'

Holger Dalkmann was a panellist at this ITPS symposium on low carbon transport systems. It was a pre-event to the UNFCCC conference with the aim of identifying the policy interventions that need to be implemented in order to meet international GHG emission reduction goals.

The Train to Copenhagen - ‘Including Transport in the Post 2012 Process'

Ko Sakamoto and Kate Avery joined the Climate Express, the last leg of a symbolic train journey travelling from Kyoto to Copenhagen, organised by the International Union of Railways (UIC). The 14-hour train journey from Brussels to Copenhagen included presentations and talks on the role of land transport in climate change solutions.  Ko Sakamoto delivered a presentation on the expectations of the deal in Copenhagen, entitled "Keeping climate solutions on track: the role of rail", a UIC Global Position paper.  It was authored by Kate Avery and Holger Dalkmann.

The aim of the train was to reduce the number of flights taken to the climate change conference and to increase awareness of the ability of the land transport sector to contribute to international emission reductions. The session comprised a discussion on sustainable transport solutions and ways in which emissions from the sector can be reduced in a post 2012 agreement.

Monday, 7 December 2009

‘The Transport Challenges in the European Union: Scenarios for Meeting the European Climate Targets'

‘The Need for Linking the Current Land Transport Challenge to the Copenhagen Process: Suggestions Developed by the ‘Bridging the Gap' members'

Presentations were delivered by both Holger Dalkmann and Ko Sakamoto at this UNFCCC side event entitled ‘A role to play for the land transport sector in the post 2012 world' organised under the Bridging the Gap initiative, of which TRL is a partner. The first of these presentations (by Ko Sakamoto) was based largely on work conducted by EEA and ITPS, sharing information about the relative impact of different policy measures on CO2 emissions from the transport sector. The second, presented by Holger Dalkman,  presented the key messages from the Bridging the Gap programme of activities and included specific recommendations to both negotiators and policy makers.

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

‘Transport out of the Greenhouse - from COPenhagen to Implementation'

Holger Dalkmann, at the invitation of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), spoke on low carbon transport policy options for developing countries. The event aimed to present possible policy pathways and appropriate institutional frameworks for achieving transitions to low carbon transport in industrialised countries.

For further details contact TRL's Communication Team, Mary Treen or Sarah Bailey
Email: mediaenquiries@trl.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 770514/0141