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News from 2018-11-15 / KfW Development Bank

Shaping the global transport transition

KfW designs international conference to focus on sustainable mobility

KfW Development Bank has dedicated this year's Development Finance Forum to the future of transportation. You are cordially invited to attend this international congress entitled "Getting on the Right Track – the Future of Urban Mobility" being held at KfW in Frankfurt on 18 and 19 December. We are looking forward to welcoming mobility experts from all over the world from politics, scientific institutions and non-governmental organisations. During the two-day event, the focus will be on finding solutions to transport problems in large cities in developing countries.

CO2 emissions are continuing to rise sharply in the transport sector. This is due to the increase in mobility worldwide, especially in urban hubs, without which economic development is inconceivable. Whereas today there are about one billion cars on the world's roads, by 2050 there will be three billion. Figures show that without new drive systems and alternative mobility patterns, neither can climate change be controlled nor the energy transition accomplished.

Moreover, existing traffic behaviour also comes at a high price and is causing more and more congestion in urban areas. Not only does this give rise to direct costs in the shape of exorbitant prices for travel with the limited means of transport, but time is also wasted and the economy negatively impacted.

To date, the transport transition has, however, only been a topic in industrial and a few emerging economies, but not in developing countries. And this despite the fact that towns are expanding faster there than anywhere else, creating the need for alternative mobility options. At the KfW event in December, experts will discuss how more people and goods can be transported without further polluting the environment in the long term, and what the other options are apart from building more roads and motorways.

KfW, which will provide considerably more funding in this area in future, sees its role in paving the way for the German private sector, whose commitment is absolutely essential to finding solutions to global transport problems.