Aug.20--THE time has come to end a transport system that is dependent on fossil fuel that produces 25 per cent of man-made carbon emissions, said a high official of an Organisation Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agency.

　　"The time has come to end this, because it is simply unsustainable," said the secretary general of the OECD's International Transport Forum (ITF) Jose Viegas.

　　"More than 40 years after the oil crisis and 20 years after global warming became a household word, transport is still 97 per cent dependent on fossil fuels and produces 25 per cent of man-made carbon emissions," he said.

　　He made the statement when endorsing the creation of a sustainable transport advisory group by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

　　"The creation of the UN High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport is an important step towards focusing on transport as a priority for sustainable development," said ITF secretary-general Jose Viegas. 

　　Mr Viegas said that rapid urbanisation also required action in the transport arena to ensure the dramatic growth of cities in the coming decades remains sustainable. 

　　"Where efficient urban mobility systems provide good access, growing cities can be places of opportunity and motors of economic growth. Without it, they are prone to become poverty traps." Mr Viegas said.

　　"The International Transport Forum, which brings together the ministers with responsibility for transport of 54 countries, is prepared to support the High-Level Advisory Group in whatever ways it can," he said.

　　"Sustainability will be an important theme at ITF's Annual Summit of Transport Ministers in May 2015 in Leipzig. And we are confident that our analytical work, such as the annual ITF Transport Outlook, can provide valuable substantive input for the development of the group's recommendations," he said.

　　(Source:shippingazette)