United States of America
Mr. Chairman, Honorable Ministers, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
thank you.
We have had productive discussions at CSD 18 and want to continue to emphasize
sustainable solutions to the challenging transportation issues under discussion during the
past week.
Transportation is essential to economic growth and stability in developed and developing
countries. Efforts to make transportation environmentally, socially, and economically
sustainable are essential to achieving our sustainable development goals.
To realize sustainable transportation within our own country, the U.S. government
remains focused on innovative solutions that incentivize clean, efficient and effective
transportation systems and technology. Specifically:
Solutions that capitalize on our successes using a variety of approaches, including
good governance practices, partnerships, and voluntary approaches, and
Solutions that aggressively reduce transportation impacts on air quality, climate,
and other environmental systems, while improving human health, particularly for
vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly.
In the US, we have dramatically reduced the emissions of multiple pollutants from cars,
trucks, buses, and other vehicles through a ?systems approach? that reflects the critical
dependence of the most effective emission control technologies on low sulfur fuels. We
also support the global Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles? call for global sulfur
levels in gasoline and diesel of 50 parts per million or less.
Efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of transportation are also a key piece
of the President?s commitment to aggressive action on reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. In keeping, our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of
Transportation (US DOT) have jointly finalized the first U.S. GHG standards for lightduty
vehicles ? which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to a level equivalent to taking
50 million cars and light trucks off our roads in 2030.
Cross-departmental partnerships within governments provide innovative, cross-sectoral
solutions to promote sustainable transportation. The USDOT, EPA, and Department of
Housing and Urban Development have partnered to improve access to affordable
housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while
protecting the environment and promoting smart growth.
The U.S. is committed to the sustainable production and use of biofuels. We believe that
a productive, science-based dialogue on the sustainability of biofuels is important for the
continued development of the bioenergy industry. We note that the Global Bioenergy
Partnership (GBEP) is relatively advanced in its work to develop science-based criteria
and indicators for bioenergy sustainability. The U.S. is actively engaged in GBEP's
work.
We are also looking towards other new and innovative solutions, including supporting
research on new battery technology. Around our ports we are specifically looking to
improve transportation efficiency and emissions performance.
EPA?s Regional Office based here in New York is working closely with the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey to implement clean air strategies to reduce
emissions at the port terminals. The Clean Air Strategy, finalized in October 2009, will
reduce the Port?s criteria pollutants by 3% and greenhouse gases by 5% annually. Along
with environmental and community organizations, industry representatives, state and
local agencies, we are reducing diesel emissions through harbor vessel and locomotive
repowers, truck replacement programs, idle reduction campaigns and construction
equipment retrofits. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is investing over
$600 million in rail expansion to reach a capacity of 1.2 million rail lifts per year,
displacing over 1.8 million truck trips and many tons of emissions.
Through a showcase effort ? proposed by the U.S., Canada, and France and approved by
the International Maritime Organization in March ? a newly designated Emission Control
Area (ECA) in North America will require large ships in the ECA to use dramatically
cleaner fuel and technologies, providing substantial public health benefits that extend
hundreds of miles inland and also benefiting marine and terrestrial ecosystems. We hope
this will serve as a model which other countries consider adopting.
We emphasize Partnerships as proven and effective tools. Our SmartWay Transport
Program is a voluntary public-private partnership that is effectively reducing greenhouse
gas emissions across the global supply chain and saving transportation providers money
through advanced technologies and practices. And we share our sustainable
transportation innovations across the globe ? for example, public transportation systems
in Chile, China, India, Mexico, and Thailand have benefited from EPA?s diesel retrofit
pilot programs to reduce air pollution.
U.S. policies continue to engage low-income individuals, minority groups, and women in
the planning process. USDOT Technology Exchange Centers facilitate government-togovernment
information-sharing on safe, secure, efficient transportation.
In closing, the U.S. has developed a number of good governance practices, partnership
programs, and innovative solutions, working collaboratively with companies,
organizations, and communities, to achieve sustainable transportation for the 21st century,
and I look forward to hearing from the other panelists. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
thank you.
We have had productive discussions at CSD 18 and want to continue to emphasize
sustainable solutions to the challenging transportation issues under discussion during the
past week.
Transportation is essential to economic growth and stability in developed and developing
countries. Efforts to make transportation environmentally, socially, and economically
sustainable are essential to achieving our sustainable development goals.
To realize sustainable transportation within our own country, the U.S. government
remains focused on innovative solutions that incentivize clean, efficient and effective
transportation systems and technology. Specifically:
Solutions that capitalize on our successes using a variety of approaches, including
good governance practices, partnerships, and voluntary approaches, and
Solutions that aggressively reduce transportation impacts on air quality, climate,
and other environmental systems, while improving human health, particularly for
vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly.
In the US, we have dramatically reduced the emissions of multiple pollutants from cars,
trucks, buses, and other vehicles through a ?systems approach? that reflects the critical
dependence of the most effective emission control technologies on low sulfur fuels. We
also support the global Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles? call for global sulfur
levels in gasoline and diesel of 50 parts per million or less.
Efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of transportation are also a key piece
of the President?s commitment to aggressive action on reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. In keeping, our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of
Transportation (US DOT) have jointly finalized the first U.S. GHG standards for lightduty
vehicles ? which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to a level equivalent to taking
50 million cars and light trucks off our roads in 2030.
Cross-departmental partnerships within governments provide innovative, cross-sectoral
solutions to promote sustainable transportation. The USDOT, EPA, and Department of
Housing and Urban Development have partnered to improve access to affordable
housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while
protecting the environment and promoting smart growth.
The U.S. is committed to the sustainable production and use of biofuels. We believe that
a productive, science-based dialogue on the sustainability of biofuels is important for the
continued development of the bioenergy industry. We note that the Global Bioenergy
Partnership (GBEP) is relatively advanced in its work to develop science-based criteria
and indicators for bioenergy sustainability. The U.S. is actively engaged in GBEP's
work.
We are also looking towards other new and innovative solutions, including supporting
research on new battery technology. Around our ports we are specifically looking to
improve transportation efficiency and emissions performance.
EPA?s Regional Office based here in New York is working closely with the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey to implement clean air strategies to reduce
emissions at the port terminals. The Clean Air Strategy, finalized in October 2009, will
reduce the Port?s criteria pollutants by 3% and greenhouse gases by 5% annually. Along
with environmental and community organizations, industry representatives, state and
local agencies, we are reducing diesel emissions through harbor vessel and locomotive
repowers, truck replacement programs, idle reduction campaigns and construction
equipment retrofits. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is investing over
$600 million in rail expansion to reach a capacity of 1.2 million rail lifts per year,
displacing over 1.8 million truck trips and many tons of emissions.
Through a showcase effort ? proposed by the U.S., Canada, and France and approved by
the International Maritime Organization in March ? a newly designated Emission Control
Area (ECA) in North America will require large ships in the ECA to use dramatically
cleaner fuel and technologies, providing substantial public health benefits that extend
hundreds of miles inland and also benefiting marine and terrestrial ecosystems. We hope
this will serve as a model which other countries consider adopting.
We emphasize Partnerships as proven and effective tools. Our SmartWay Transport
Program is a voluntary public-private partnership that is effectively reducing greenhouse
gas emissions across the global supply chain and saving transportation providers money
through advanced technologies and practices. And we share our sustainable
transportation innovations across the globe ? for example, public transportation systems
in Chile, China, India, Mexico, and Thailand have benefited from EPA?s diesel retrofit
pilot programs to reduce air pollution.
U.S. policies continue to engage low-income individuals, minority groups, and women in
the planning process. USDOT Technology Exchange Centers facilitate government-togovernment
information-sharing on safe, secure, efficient transportation.
In closing, the U.S. has developed a number of good governance practices, partnership
programs, and innovative solutions, working collaboratively with companies,
organizations, and communities, to achieve sustainable transportation for the 21st century,
and I look forward to hearing from the other panelists. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Stakeholders