With more than 50% of the population residing in urban centers, mobility demand has increased rapidly. To ensure that cities are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) 11.2 identifies the development of affordable and sustainable transport systems that will be “safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable,” focusing on the development of public transport “with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.”
Meanwhile, SDG 13 calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts through the integration of climate change into policies and planning (SDG 13.2). This goal has two key business themes, namely, energy efficiency and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with transport as one of the identified pathways for the achievement of this goal. This SDG brings to the fore the importance of developing low carbon transport systems. Effective interventions to reduce emissions from the sector include efficient and reliable mass transportation, active transport (cycling and walking), electric mobility, and land use planning.
The 2016 GHG Gas Inventory revealed that locally, transport was the third largest contributor of GHG emissions, following the agriculture and energy sectors. Cognizant of this issue, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) submitted its unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to the Climate Change Commission in 2019, including the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). However, the reduction of GHG emissions projected from the PUVMP in the aforementioned NDC was primarily focused on the upgrading of engines of public utility vehicles (PUVs) to Euro IV. The projection is that GHG savings can be enhanced by studying how to encourage the integration of electric mobility and active transport in the transport system of the Philippines.