IRF President Calls for Concerted Action to Decarbonise the Sector at ASECAP Days 2022

December 8, 2022
|In IRF News
|By Mao Macatangay

Under the theme “Decarbonising Road Infrastructure: Challenges, Perspectives and Actions in Tough Economy” the 49th ASECAP Annual Event was held on 24-25 November 2022 in Brussels. The event gathered high-level personalities from the EU Institutions and other international organisations, including the International Road Federation (IRF). 

The conference focused more specifically on how to decarbonise the road infrastructure to reach the objectives set up by elected officials to have Europe first zero carbon continent and to ensure a resilient, robust, and safe road infrastructure network. 

IRF President, Anouar Benazzouz, speaking at the Opening Ceremony stated “We need to learn system thinking. We need to build true partnerships to deliver on these critical issues“ as he called for concerted action to decarbonise the sector. 

During his address, he focused on the recently-published joint road sector statement for COP27, released by IRF together with ASECAP, ERTICO, ERF, IRU, ARMFA and ITA-AITES . These leading organisations have restated the sector’s firm commitment to effectively reduce CO2 emissions to net-zero by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement. You can find the joint statement here. 

Mr Benazzouz echoed some of the key messages from the joint statement, calling for all parties to act with pragmatism, ensure a just transition and embrace innovation. 

  • “Pragmatism, because roads serve all other transport modes and are essential for a well-functioning multi-modal system.” 
  • “A just transition, because all countries have different transport and energy landscapes, with widely different challenges and it’s important to take local specificities into consideration.” 
  • “Innovation, because the challenge requires us to adopt a holistic approach that translates in investments in hard infrastructure but also soft measures.” 

IRF Director General, Susanna Zammataro, and IRF Deputy Director General, Gonzalo Alcaraz, were also present at the ASECAP Days 2022 to address respectively road safety and the role of infrastructure in autonomous mobility.

Access here the full speech of Mr Anouar Benazzouz. All proceedings are available on the event’s official page.