A group of 10 countries led by Chile called for a global effort to cut energy demand from the transport sector by 25pc by 2035, aligning it with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The coalition was formed at the UN Cop 30 climate summit, which is underway in Belem, northern Brazil. Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain are the other signatory countries so far.
"We are committed to making transport a key pillar of climate action, agreeing a shared framework for resilient and low emissions transport systems", Chile's transport minister Juan Carlos Munoz told journalists at Cop 30. Cutting energy demand from transport — the second-largest emitting sector — allows for "a clear measurable direction towards a net zero scenario in the transport sector in 2050", he added.
Chile is a natural leader for the coalition as it is a global leader in efforts to electrify its public transport fleet. The country's capital Santiago is the city with most electric buses outside of China, Munoz said.
It had around 3,000 electric buses in 2024, according to a report by Agora Verkehrswende, a non-governmental organisation focused on climate neutrality in transport. But it will have 4,400 by March, Munoz added.
The coalition will now work to create a roadmap to reach the pledge's goal and measure progress for future Cops, according to Slocat, a global partnership that promotes sustainable, low-carbon transport.
Sustainable fuels, renewable sources
Although the pledge will heavily rely on electrification, it also calls on countries to shift one-third of energy powering transport to sustainable biofuels and renewable sources.
Brazil is the second-biggest biofuel producer globally, trailing only behind the US. But it will consider any route that both decarbonizes its fleet and drives national industry, Brazilian minister of cities Jader Barbalho Filho told Argus, mentioning specifically liquid nitrogen and biomethane.
Including existing and expected projects, Brazil could have 2.4mn m³/d of biomethane capacity by 2027, data from hydrocarbons regulator ANP show.
The shift to sustainable biofuels and renewables sources plays well into Brazil's Belem 4x pledge, which calls for a global effort to quadruple global output and use of sustainable fuels by 2035, Filho added.
"The Chilean government looked for us [to present the transport pledge] exactly because we already have [Belem 4x]", he said.
The Belem 4x pledge now has 23 country signatories, Cop 30 chief executive Ana Toni said today.
