The Leaders’ Roundtable on Road to Paris: transport and climate change was held on 8 October 2015 as a part of the EcoMobility Dialogues 2015. The session served as a platform for local leaders and technical experts to discuss the elements of the Johannesburg Declaration on EcoMobility in Cities. Attended by over 40 Mayors, Dy Mayors, Heads of Transport and experts, the session was opened by remarks from Executive Mayor Parks Tau of the City of Johannesburg.One of the main focus areas of the session was critically reviewing the Johannesburg Declaration on EcoMobility in Cities. The Declaration serves as a commitment document for cities around the world to implement ecomobility options to combat climate change.

Urban transport constitutes 40% of total transport energy consumption, which is poised to double by 2050, despite ongoing vehicle technology and fuel economy improvements. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), transport has traditionally been viewed as a sub-sector of energy. Nearly 30% of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to date make specific reference to urban transport improvements. It is necessary to continue to raise the profile of sustainable urban transport within the UNFCCC framework to help to raise mitigation ambition within the transport sector before and beyond 2020.

It was evident from the various deliberations of the city leaders and experts that promoting walking, cycling and public transport is the crux for cities all over the world to combat climate change. The declaration was adopted by all the participating cities and the executive mayor Parks Tau shall take the declaration to the UN Climate Summit (COP21) in Paris in December 2015.The declaration shall also be available from the EcoMobility Festival website and cities interested in knowing the content and to adopt the declaration are welcome to download the same.

The session was chaired by Mr Cornie Huizenga, the Secretary General of SLoCaT and Ms Monika Zimmermann, Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability