SDG 13 POLICY BRIEF: Safe Roads to a CLIMATE-PROOF Future
written by SOUMITA CHAKRABORTY

While road traffic crashes are the number one killer of youth aged 5-29 years, the different modes of transport are major contributors to climate change. Young people’s current mobility system inherited from previous generations is unsafe, polluting, and unsustainable. Youth-focused and youth-led interventions and policy decisions to deliver safer roads can go a long way in mitigating and adapting to climate change by promoting active, safe, and no-emission mobility.

The SDG 13 Policy Brief presents key data that expounds on the linkages between road safety and climate. It highlights the importance of climate change and the transport sector in determining the future of today’s youth and how young people have the demographic and democratic right to have their demands on climate and road safety heard and incorporated into regional and national decision-making processes. In the Brief, we cite examples of how young people are addressing the climate crisis through road safety actions. Download it today to learn more.

 

key data on educatIon

 
 

key messages of the polIcy brief

 

Governments should

  • Make provisions for youth consultations and engage young people meaningfully to address their road safety concerns and help implement, monitor, and evaluate NDCs ahead of COP summits.

  • Review, update and specify national and local technical safety standards and star rating targets for transport infrastructure and designs.

  • Provide incentives to citizens for shifting from private vehicles towards low-carbon and walking.

  • stakeholders to strengthen the institutional and resource capacity of the transport sector.

  • Promote street designs with dedicated and safe cycling and walking pathways.

Civil Society Organizations should:

  • Actively engage and consult youth from all regions and socio-economic backgrounds in all policy endeavors to ensure global youth perspectives are included and represented within multilateral organizations.

  • Support governments in addressing the transport sector’s impact on health, environment, and climate change to foster a shift towards the least carbon-intensive travel options for all.

  • Facilitate decarbonization of the transport sector by increasing the use of sustainable biofuels and renewable energy sources.

  • road safety policies, using the new Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

  • Conduct community-level awareness generation workshops on the importance of road safety for the achievement of the climate agenda.

Youth and Youth-led Organizations should: 

  • Mobilize peers to lead awareness generation campaigns and advocate for meaningful youth participation at all government levels to ensure that youth voices are heard and

  • Advocate for youth involvement in sustainable transport policy development and Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

  • Act as role models for the community by observing road safety best practices and opting for active and sustainable modes of transport.

  • Prioritise road safety within organisational strategies to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

  • Hold the government accountable for their global and national commitments to deliver healthy and sustainable mobility for all.

 

message from our youth leaders

 

2022 Local Actions Winner: SHEHAB ABOU ZEID
Shehab is from Egypt and currently works as a program manager of the Nada Foundation for Safer Egyptian Roads. His background is in political sciences, specializing in political theory. His goal is to achieve lasting social change through the process of empowerment, helping people to gain more control over their own lives within the Egyptian context.

“Road Safety and Climate Change are the two sides of the same coin, and if we endeavour for safe and sustainable transport, it can help us achieve both agendas. Egypt is a car- dominated public space, which focuses only on car owners and ignores vulnerable road users like- pedestrians and cyclists.“


 
 

2022 Local Actions Winner: EL KHALIL CHERIF
El Khalil is a researcher at Instituto Superior Técnico. He has gotten a PhD in Environment, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System and recently a Master in Sustainable Ocean Blue Economy for Environment Diplomacy from University of Trieste.

“Road crashes are killing young people and the transport system is negatively affecting the environment. Young people are the biggest population worldwide. We need to be included in the decision-making processes because tackling these problems in a traditional way will not result in a fruitful impact and will only lead to more reluctant actions.”