World Bank approved a USD 8.2 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support China’s efforts to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions from the freight sector. The total value of the project is USD 13.67 million. The grant will support modal shift to sustainable transport mode such railways or waterways.
“This GEF project will contribute to China’s efforts in meeting or exceeding its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement well before 2020. It aims to improve the efficiency of multimodal freight transport, so that long-distance freight will be shifted from roads to greener transport modes such as railways and waterways. It will also promote green urban logistics to reduce emissions,” Tan Hua, World Bank Senior Transport Specialist said.
Freight transport is China’s major consumer of energy, with the highest growth rate of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions among all sectors.
Freight transport accounted for over half of total transport CO2 emissions in 2013. As one of the most freight intensive economies in the world, for China to maintain healthy economic growth while fulfilling its commitment to global carbon reduction and environmental sustainability, developing a competitive, efficient and green freight transport system is a national strategic priority.
The GEF Efficient and Green Freight Transport Project will seek to improve institutional capacity by focusing on two priority areas at the national level: promotion of multimodal freight transport system, and optimization of urban freight distribution. The project will also pilot key policy, strategy and analytical tools at the local levels in two provinces (Guangdong and Hubei) and three municipalities (Yantai, Weifang and Xiamen). The project will engage key industry players in the formulation of sector policies at both national and local levels.
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