Saul Billingsley, Deputy Director of the FIA Foundation, joins Holger Dalkman, Director of EMBARQ, to announce their road safety Voluntary Commitment at Rio+20 (© Mariana Gil, EMBARQ)

The Global Fuel Economy Initiative has made a $1 million+ ‘Voluntary Commitment’ to promote global efforts to improve fuel economy, at the Rio+20 ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro.

Many Governments, international institutions, NGOs and other actors are making voluntary commitments to promote sustainable activities in parallel to the official Rio Agreement. With sustainable transport included for the first time in a global sustainable development framework, 17 sustainable transport ‘Voluntary Commitments’ were unveiled in Rio by the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT), of which FIA Foundation and GFEI are members.

The GFEI’s commitment, signed by the FIA Foundation, UN Environment Programme, International Energy Agency, International Transport Forum and the International Council on Clean Transportation, focuses on three key areas of work – policy support, outreach and research and analysis. With over $1 million committed to 2015, the GFEI will work with government regulators and their partners worldwide to help them to develop measures to improve automotive fuel economy. GFEI partners support countries that account for more than 85 percent of present new vehicle sales as well as emerging countries that are experiencing rapidly rising car sales. Assistance includes the online GFEI Tool that was designed to answer basic questions about what auto fuel economy is, what governments are doing to reduce emissions, the role of technology, and how policy makers can start to promote cleaner, more efficient cars. Technical assistance also includes simulation modeling forecasts on the cost and feasibility of energy efficiency technologies. GFEI will also seek to improve global understanding of fuel economy through research, data development and modeling, in particular to help individual countries and regions to develop policy which is best suited to them. GFEI will also continue to raise awareness of the issue of fuel economy, to interact with global and regional policy development processes, and to develop working partnerships with other key stakeholders to promote this agenda also.

Sheila Watson, Director of Environment at the FIA Foundation, said:

"The Rio+20 summit is an important moment for the world to consider the steps we must take to address climate change, energy security and health. The GFEI shows how in fuel efficiency in cars and light vans, this can be done cost effectively if there is a shared commitment to act now. The GFEI partners are delighted to re-affirm their commitment to this global effort."

At the same time, the eight largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) announced that they will invest US$175 billion to finance more sustainable transportation systems over the coming decade, boosting equitable economic development and protecting the environment and public health across the developing world. The pledge, which was made by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and six other MDBs, will also give greater focus to fuel efficiency and economy. 

Speaking at the launch of this commitment, Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asian Development Bank, said:

‘To be successful in our endeavors, we need strong partners. This is why we are pleased to be joined today by a broad coalition of partners from the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport, who have registered a series of further Voluntary Commitments on sustainable transport – including for environmentally sustainable transport, mobility, urban transport, green freight, railways, bus rapid transit, clean fuel, fuel economy, cycling and road safety. We stand together in calling for change in order to bring about sustainable transport.’

Click here to view the GFEI's Voluntary Commitment >