Foreword
Growth and development are primarily a matter of mobility. Mobility of people for access to employment, education, and health; mobility of goods to supply the world markets that ensure the dynamism of economic activity. In our globalized economy, it is the infrastructure and transport services that underpin trade, linking production centers to consumption areas, integrating territories beyond administrative boundaries, and thus offering everyone the opportunity to contribute to value creation, as well as to enjoy its benefits. So mobility has value. So much value, actually, that when looking into options on how to set the transport sector on a low carbon path, those cutting down on mobility can hardly be entertained, such is the risk that they would significantly undermine development. In other words, stop moving, emit less, is not an option. Then the challenge becomes: how to progress toward low-carbon mobility? And how do we finance such a transformation in transport patterns, so as to make it sustainable? And what will the role of technology be in helping along this route? Those are some of the key questions this report seeks to answer. Or when the answer is not that straightforward, at least to provide some fertile avenues for further analysis and better understanding of the mechanisms through which transport may help make sustainable and inclusive green growth possible. Transport is too often taken for granted. Without a deliberate policy agenda to steer the sector toward a sustainable future where mobility is provided to people and freight while simultaneously protecting the planet from increased congestion and ineluctable asphyxia, this evolution is unlikely to happen by itself. Or mobility will be curbed, under pressure from emerging crisis conditions, with development and growth being among the first casualties. And as is so often the case in these situations, the poor are likely to suffer the most, with social inclusion giving way to survival of the fittest. So now is the time to think through those issues and propose clear policy choices, which will hopefully help chart a way toward the future we—and our children—aspire to live in. Jose Luis Irigoyen Director Transport, Water, and Information and Communication Technologies The World Bank Turning the Right Corner • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-9835-7
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