In 2015, countries were in search of coherent guidance about ways to change the trajectory of the transport system to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement targets. A single organization could not support the ambition and changes required at the system level. In direct response, the Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All) Partnership was created in 2017.
1. Translating the SDGs Framework for Transport
In 2017, the World Bank convened 30 of the most influential international transport organizations and companies in Washington, D.C. Partner organizations came together to frame “sustainable mobility” around the simultaneous achievement of four global goals: Universal Access, Efficiency, Safety, and Green Mobility.
2. Thought Leadership
To take effective action, countries must know where they need to be on sustainable mobility, and where they stand. This required:
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Collecting and assessing data, developing an integrated data and indicator platform for transport, and structuring the data and indicators around a coherent framework. This led to the development of the Global Tracking Framework for Transport (GTF).
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Tracking and analyzing country performances on sustainable mobility. Using the GTF, the partners produced the Global Mobility Report (GMR) 2017 to benchmark countries’ transport system performances.
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Developing a new indicator to rank countries globally for sustainable mobility. The Global Sustainable Mobility Index (GSMI) score measures the extent to which the mobility system of a given country is sustainable.
3. Crowd Sourcing Policy Knowledge
In 2019, the Partnership embarked on a crowd-sourcing exercise to develop a global repository of policy instruments on sustainable mobility 2019. The Catalogue of Policy Measures (CPM 2.0), includes 194 policy instruments, with actionable guidance on how to implement various policies from work conducted by the Working Groups.
4. Designing a Coherent Approach for Country Action
With the policy framework provided in the CPM, the Partnership developed a methodology to select the most impactful policy instruments for a country to achieve sustainable mobility. The methodology is detailed in the Global Roadmap of Action toward Sustainable Mobility (GRA).
5. Assisting Countries to Achieve Sustainable Mobility
In 2019, the Partnership brought together the various tools (GTF, CPM, and Selection Algorithm) into the three-module Policy Decision-Making Tool for Sustainable Mobility. This tool includes a Data Module to diagnose transport and mobility issues (using the Global Tracking Framework for Transport (GTF)), a Policy Module to explore policy options in the Catalogue of Policy Measures (CPM), and an Action Module to generate prototype actions plans (PAP). This tool responds to concerns from countries to get structured guidance on how to change the trajectory of transport and achieve the SDGs and the Paris Climate targets.
In 2021, the Partnership made this knowledge available to country decision-makers by developing a blended interactive learning course- “Sustainable Mobility Requires a New Policy Approach Today”- collaborating with the World Bank’s Open Learning Campus. The course drew more than 600 participants from over 140 countries.
6. Piloting and Demonstration Projects
The development of tools and the credibility gained in the international transport community has uniquely placed the Partnership to engage with national and city decision-makers and the international community in a new conversation on the future of mobility and emerging solutions.
South Africa was the first country that benefited from assistance from the Partnership using tools to guide public investment programs in transport. In 2022, SuM4All will continue to refine policy recommendations from the CPM in various settings: Nairobi, Kenya, and Cuenca, Ecuador (policies drawn from “Sustainable Electric Mobility: Building Blocks and Policy Recommendations”), and Mombasa and Kisumu, Kenya (Policies drawn from “Digital Toolkit for Energy and Mobility”).
Internal to the World Bank, several tools are now also being used by Bank staff to guide choices in transport. To learn more about how World Bank staff have used SuM4All tools, watch the video.