The transport sector should chart a clearer map on our voyage to a low-carbon future

IN HER recent budget speech, Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy provides a breadth of fresh air towards revitalising South Africa's not-so-healthy transport system in becoming resilient and efficient, alive to the needs and operating environment of the current and future economy.

- SIMPHIWE NGWENYA

The Minister's policy speech illuminated a signal of South Africa's intended transport trajectory and further announced the eminent revision of the Green Transport Strategy (GTS). That is a demonstration of a renewed political will towards the transformation of our transportation sector that is geared towards a just, sustainable, and low-carbon mobility - equitably serving people, the planet and the economy.

The budget speech's reaffirmation of the Department of Transport's (DOT) draft Just Transition Plan is a promising recognition of the socioeconomic and justice complexities inherent in moving toward sustainable mobility.

It needs stating that the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) supported the Department' Just Transition Plan with technical oversight and modelling analysis to align mitigation goals with the country's climate commitments. However, addressing critical gaps around implementation details, climate resilience, stakeholder inclusivity, and strategic zero-emission mobility adoption will decisively shape the sector's transformative potential.

To realise the plan’s ambitions, the finalisation and diligent implementation of the Transport Sector’s Just Transition Plan is essential.

The intensifying climate risks calls for urgency towards sustainable mobility. We cannot blink to the urgent transitional and physical climate change risks and the local implications for the transport sector which contributes 12.7% of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mainly because the sector is deeply integrated in major economic activities.