The annual consortium meeting held in Washington DC offered the opportunity to review achievements made in 2019 and kick off the work of five new workstreams. High-level executives from the private sector where also invited to share their experience and strategies in addressing road safety during a panel discussion coordinated by the IRF.

From the launch of the Global Roadmap of Action toward SustainableMobility (GRA) to the Online Tool toward Sustainable Mobility 2.0, 2019 marked the realization SuM4All most ambitious venture — tackling the “how to” factors to achieve sustainable mobility. The annual consortium offered the opportunity to review achievements. These have now been summarised in the SuM4All Annual Report. 

SuM4All has kicked off 2020 with five new workstreams. These five workstreams respond to the urgency to focus on the implementation of the GRA and cover topics such as: enabling data sharing for sustainable urban mobility; sustainability of the e-mobility model; the transport energy nexus; gender data; and piloting the GRA.

On this last point, the consortium meeting was also the opportunity to hear from representatives from South Africa, the first country to pilot the GRA. “A lot of work has gone into the GRA and setting the measures on [what] sustainable mobility looks like. The opportunity we see with the GRA is that the assessment has more or less told us where we are as a country, and now is about us being able to look at our plan as a nation [and] reprioritize [to achieve sustainable mobility],” said Boitumelo Mosako, Executive Director from the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Following the Consortium Meeting, Ethiopia announced that they will also pilot the GRA; setting a huge milestone for SuM4All and for other countries to use this framework to guide their policies and transform the future of mobility.

Finally, top level executives from Total, Michelin, 3M, Volvo and UPS were part of the panel “Improving Road Safety Outcomes: Private Sector Commitments” hosted in the framework of the annual SuM4All Consortium Meeting held at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC.

Coordinated by IRF, the panel aimed at illustrating areas of opportunity where companies can make meaningful contributions to road safety outcomes and inspire further action and commitment in the sector.

“We need to learn to better harness the power of corporate resources and their presence in our communities” said IRF President Mr. Bill M. Halkias in his introductory remarks. The Decade of Action has taught us that saving five million lives and avoiding 50 million serious injuries will require more significant commitments and greater action from everyone. “If effectively engaged, the private sector is well placed to have a profound and positive impact on road safety” Mr Halkias stressed. “It is important to understand how private companies integrate road safety into their overall sustainability efforts and which are the most effective strategies they apply to do so”.

A short report on this panel is available here: https://irfofficial.org/2020/01/21/irf-for-improving-road-safety/

IRF (Geneva) is a Steering Committee Member of SuM4All and actively involved in several workstreams. Feel free to contact IRF (info@irfnet.ch) for more info on SuM4All and how to get involved.