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SOLUTIONS Sharing Opportunities for Low carbon Urban TransportatION D1.5 Report on the EU-China Green Urban Mobility workshop

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SOLUTIONS Grant agreement no: 604714 Title Report on the EU-China Green Urban

Mobility Workshop Deliverable D 1.5 Work Package 1 Transferability analysis, methods and

tools Authors Oliver Lah (WI), Heather Allen (TRL) and

Robin King (WRI) Reviewers Bernd Decker (RC), Elisabete Arsenio

(LNEC) Status Final Public: PU /Restricted: PP PP Draft submitted to the Commission 3 July 2013 Final version submitted to the Commission

9 July 2013

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Contents Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 4  1.   Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5  2.   Potential areas for future cooperation ................................................................... 5  

2.1   Clean vehicles .................................................................................................. 6  2.2   Network management and road-user charging ................................................ 7  2.3   Public transport ................................................................................................ 9  2.4   Non-motorised transport ................................................................................ 10  2.5   Integrated Planning and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans ........................... 11  2.6   Summary table ............................................................................................... 13  

3.   Transferability of solutions: building on the CIVITAS model ................................ 14  4.   Research frameworks for future cooperation ...................................................... 17  5.   References .......................................................................................................... 19  

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Executive Summary

Urban development has been recognised by the European Union (EU) and China as one of key challenges for cities in the coming years. As part of this, green mobility has been recognised as a key component of urbanisation. The SOLUTIONS project aims to facilitate exchange between EU countries and China in this field. As part of the project, an EU-China workshop entitled “Towards Innovative Joint Solutions for Common Urbanisation Challenges”, examining the fields of energy, mobility and urban planning, was organised by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) and the China Centre for Urban Development (CCUD) of the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC), in collaboration with the relevant European Commission Directorates-General, EURAXESS Links China and the Chinese Government.

During the workshop it was revealed that there is a growing recognition in many Chinese cities that focussing on rapid road infrastructure expansion induces additional motorised transport demand, significantly shifting away from China’s traditionally much more sustainable mobility patterns and modal shares. This has been identified as an expensive approach which also results in increased energy consumption in the Chinese transport sector. Furthermore, the strategy increases travel costs and greenhouse gas emissions, results in deteriorated air quality and to increased social costs from accidents. Europe has been through a similar experience with a phase of rapid motorisation growth, but has recently shifted toward sustainable mobility policies and practice. During this process Europe has gained considerable experience with sustainable mobility measures which could be shared with Chinese counterparts. Similarly, China has made some remarkable progress in addressing urban mobility issues; developing and implementing a number of technology and policy innovations that could be shared with European cities.

The workshop identified five particular areas for EU-China cooperation:

• Clean vehicles  • Network management and road-user charging  • Public transport  • Non-motorised transport  • Integrated Planning and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.  

The workshop then discussed matters concerned with the transferability of these measures between the jurisdictions, and research frameworks under which future cooperation could be organised.

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1. Introduction

Urban development has been recognised by the European Union (EU) and China as one of key challenges for cities in the coming years. The “Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the People's Republic of China”, and the “Joint Declaration on the EU-China Innovation Cooperation Dialogue” provide a framework for EU-China cooperation in addressing common societal challenges in the field of urbanisation.

An EU-China workshop entitled “Towards Innovative Joint Solutions for Common Urbanisation Challenges” was organised by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) and the China Centre for Urban Development (CCUD) of the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC), in collaboration with the relevant European Commission Directorates-General, EURAXESS Links China and the Chinese Government. The workshop took place on the 30th and 31st of May, 2013 in Foshan, China; structured around three themes: energy, mobility and urban planning.

Green urban mobility has been recognised as a key component of urbanisation; because of their thematic relevance, the SOLUTIONS and Viajeo PLUS project teams were invited to join the discussion on future cooperation in fostering implementation of measures to this end. The workshop aimed to establish long-term cooperation on urban innovation; a number of SOLUTIONS consortium members contributed to the sustainable urban mobility session. Heather Allen (TRL), Robin King (WRI/EMBARQ), Bernd Decker (Rupprecht Consult) and Oliver Lah (Wuppertal Institute) from the European side, and Wu Hongyang (CATS) and Hui He (ICCT) from the Chinese side contributed to the discussion on key issues for future cooperation.

2. Potential areas for future cooperation

Many technological and policy innovations were discussed and experience with their implementation in the EU and China were shared. It became very clear during the discussions in the mobility session, and also from various remarks from Mayors in other sessions, that a mind-shift is taking place in many Chinese cities: the realisation is growing that the demand-driven approach to transport planning will not deliver sustainable mobility and that more innovative solutions are needed. There is a

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growing recognition that focussing on rapid road infrastructure expansion induces additional motorised transport demand, significantly shifting away from China’s traditionally much more sustainable mobility patterns and modal shares. This has been identified as an expensive approach which also results in increased energy consumption in the Chinese transport sector. Furthermore, the strategy increases travel costs and greenhouse gas emissions, results in deteriorated air quality and to increased social costs from accidents. Europe has been through a similar experience with a phase of rapid motorisation growth, but has recently shifted toward sustainable mobility policies and practice. During this process Europe has gained considerable experience with sustainable mobility measures which could be shared with Chinese counterparts. Similarly, China has made some remarkable progress in addressing urban mobility issues; developing and implementing a number of technology and policy innovations that could be shared with European cities. Moreover, medium-sized cities in China are especially interested in learning from the experience of their similarly-sized European counterparts.

2.1 Clean vehicles

Clean vehicles have the potential to create significant co-benefits by increasing transport productivity, energy security, transport affordability and decreasing harmful and greenhouse gas emissions. There are a number of options for encouraging the use of clean vehicles in cities. The workshop discussion on clean vehicles focused on electric cars and two-wheelers (predominantly battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles (PHEV)), along with the adoption of various other fuel options, such as CNG, LNG and biofuels. It was also acknowledged that meeting climate change mitigation, as well as other objectives - in particular air quality - necessitates accounting for the total (well-to-wheel (WtW)) emissions of powertrains (tank-to-wheel (WtW)) and fuels (well-to-tank (WtT)). China has a strong interest in electric mobility and is already the world’s largest producer of electric two-wheelers.

Opportunities for future cooperation

Vehicle-fleet energy efficiency improvements and measures to foster them were also discussed in the workshop. The general consensus was that there is significant potential to reduce the vehicle fleet energy consumption using existing technologies. Electrification may allow even more efficiency gains in the future, especially if based

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on renewably generated electricity. Considering the Chinese reliance on coal-fired electricity, electrification’s CO2 mitigation potential in the short-term is probably limited. However, over the medium to longer term, electrification is likely to play a major role, and already plays an important role in improving air quality in Chinese cities. Some specific technical issues were discussed that may require specific EU-China cooperation, such as common standards for batteries and recharging infrastructure.

Urban logistics and last-mile freight delivery were also discussed to some extent, in particular the potential of optimised logistics, consolidation centres and last-mile distribution using low-emission vehicles.

Next steps within the SOLUTIONS project

The SOLUTIONS project will primarily focus on fostering technology adoption and policy tools to encourage vehicle-fleet energy efficiency improvement. The project will assess local solutions, such as the plate quotas from Beijing and Shanghai, and national and supra-national measures from Europe, such as registration taxes and feebate schemes that aim to internalise externalities.

Air quality is of significant concern amongst Chinese officials. The general public is also showing growing interest in air quality issues, partly due to extreme situations in major cities (especially Beijing), but also by recent revelations of food and water quality standard compromises. National and local authorities are at pains to ensure local air pollutant emissions reduction efforts are being pursued. Some 200 Chinese cities are investigating the potential Low Emission Zones; an area in which Europe has a wealth of experience to offer. These and related measures will be subject of the transferability analysis and potentially the feasibility studies within this project.

2.2 Network management and road-user charging

Traffic management systems have the potential to reduce congestion and contribute to better-flowing transport in urban environments. ITS solutions can also contribute to improved city-centre air quality by diverting traffic and reducing congestion. Vital, however, to the contribution to a sustainable transport system is the design of the scheme as part of an integrated and multimodal system. Applied in isolation, traffic management is likely to be less effective in fulfilling its primary objective of reducing congestion and is likely to generate trade-offs with other objectives such as the transport system’s energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions and economic efficiency. This was confirmed during the workshop discussions.

Improved traffic flow and road-network reliability are likely to induce additional road traffic if travel demand is not reduced. Providing and/or improving the attractiveness of modal alternatives, such as public transport, walking and cycling, is paramount in

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achieving high modal shares for these modes, limiting road-transport demand, and thus improving the transport system’s overall sustainability.

Ensuring slow but free flowing traffic using ITS, combined with other demand management measures is an area of mutual interest for the EU and China. Europe has already introduced measures in this area with its managed motorways approach and is performing further research under the Forever Open Road project. Road pricing (e.g. road user charging) can also play a role in demand management; a measure which is gaining attention in China.

Using IT systems, such as public transport traffic light priority, smart card ticketing, parking management, car and bike sharing, the preferred transport modes can be made more attractive and efficient.

Opportunities for future cooperation

Congestion and air quality are already significant issues in many Chinese cities and are at the top of the agenda for most city officials working on urban mobility. As a result, many Chinese cities have already invested substantially in traffic infrastructure. It is important that traffic management systems are complemented by measures such as congestion charging, parking policies, and additional travel demand management and energy efficiency improvement measures, including improvements to the public transport system as a reliable and affordable alternative to cars, coupled with measures targeting the car-fleet’s efficiency.

As already mentioned, there has been significant investment in infrastructure transport hardware. It was observed that there could be advantages in sharing some of the ‘soft’ aspects between Europe and China (although it should be noted that Chinese officials bristle at the use of the term “soft” and appear to take these less seriously), as well as doing more research on their behavioural roots. Chinese citizens are still strongly influenced by the media and her/his perception of global models and success; many aspire to purchase their own car. Europe is experiencing a gradual shift from private car to collective transport modes; for example, the recent success of car and bike sharing schemes demonstrate the movement toward more sustainable mobility modes. Europe has learned much which could be useful for China in progressing towards a more sustainable transport system.

Next steps within the SOLUTIONS project

As part of work package 1, SOLUTIONS will assess the success and transferability of traffic management systems and road-user charging schemes. The Singapore City entry charge scheme, for example, which has boosted public transport and led to a 45% reduction in traffic, increased average travel speeds from about 20 km/h to over 30 km/h and reduced road accidents by 25%, will be examined. The success of this

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system inspired the congestion charge systems in London, Stockholm and other cities around the world. A feasibility study for such a scheme in Beijing has been completed, upon which this project will build.

In work package 3, SOLUTIONS will examine the aforementioned, and other, measures, focussing on those, which can be implemented at the local level.

2.3 Public transport

There is a wealth of experience on the transfer of innovative public transport measures. In recent years, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has become a role model for policy-transfer in this area. BRT systems, first developed in Latin America, have since spread across the continent, to Asia, and more recently also to Europe (Figure 1).

Figure 1: BRT’s worldwide diffusion

Source: EMBARQ 2012

BRT is well adapted to large, dense cities where high levels of usage can be achieved. Europe has developed its own version, BHLS (Bus with a High Level of Service), well suited to second and third tier cities as well as outer suburbs of larger cities. Experience with such systems from the UK and France is available and could be transferred to China after adaptation to Chinese conditions.

Opportunities for future cooperation

While there are a number of success stories to explore in this area, there are also some cases were the introduction of BRT systems has not been so successful. Uncovering both the successes and the failures, and their underlying factors, will be equally important in better understanding the transferability of BRTs.

BRT Use is Expanding Around the World!

!!

source: EMBARQ, 2011!

Planned / in construction (83 cities)!

In expansion (23 cities)!

In operation (156 cities)!

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Several Chinese researchers and city officials mentioned a growing interest in Light Rail (LRT) technologies as logical next step from BRT; some of the key infrastructure, such as a dedicated line and high-capacity stations, is already in place as part of the BRT system. However, operational funding of these systems has been identified as a key problem for public transport services in Chinese cities. The infrastructure cost itself is seen as less problematic, as loans from domestic banks are readily available and land sales provide a sizeable income for infrastructure investment. The exchange between cities in Europe and China could cover not only technology and policy issues, but also operational and funding structures.

Next steps within SOLUTIONS

Public transport, in particular BRT, will be a key topic in the exchange between Asian, European and Latin American cities. The feasibility study for a Chinese city in work package 3 will include implementation and operation aspects. It may also cover additional enabling factors such as integrated ticketing.

SOLUTIONS will foster exchange with European cities which have started implementing BRT-like systems. Particularly cities in economically difficult situations inquire incrementally in cost efficient transport modes.

China a leader in the production of electric buses, while in Europe, large scale projects such as ‘European Bus of the Future’ and a large demonstration project in 10 cities (ZEUS) could prove valuable information to exchange. The renaissance of electric (trolley) buses in Europe provides an excellent opportunity for promoting this highly energy efficient and low-pollution transport.

2.4 Non-motorised transport

There is rapidly growing interest in the development of infrastructure and systems for sustainable transport modes such as walking and cycling, as shown by some of the workshop presentations (e.g. picture from Foshan, righ). China traditionally had a very high modal share of cycling; the current challenge is to maintain or regain this share. To facilitate this, accessible and safe cycling infrastructure and supporting measures are required.

With increasing motorised transport, safety issues associated with cycling also increase. Research is required regarding this issue from a variety of

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perspectives, including both soft (e.g. awareness raising and driving behaviour/attitudes) and hard measures (e.g. infrastructure design).

Another measure discussed, and which is gaining substantial interest in many Chinese cities, was bike sharing. Based on European concepts - such as the Parisian bike-sharing scheme, Vélib - many Chinese cities are establishing systems within a very short time-frame, yet at very high level of quality and quantity. A number of cities in China such as Zhongshan, Hangzhou and the workshop’s host city Foshan have implemented bike-sharing schemes based on the Parisian model. A number of cities are currently in the process of developing similar schemes and there is a growing exchange between Chinese cities regarding regional transferability, which could be complemented by European knowledge.

Opportunities for future cooperation

The facilitation of dialogue between European and Chinese cities on the technical and economic feasibility, and the specifications of the enabling policy and funding environment could substantially increase the introduction of non-motorised transport infrastructure and services. For example, large, complex interchanges have been built in China. They tend to be difficult to use and access, and use by non-motorised transport (walking and cycling) can be problematic. In Europe, recently built or rebuilt large interchanges have been done so including a ‘sense of place’, making the interchanges themselves a destination in their own right.

Next steps within SOLUTIONS

Non-motorised transport is partially included in the Public Transport cluster (as feeder) and in the integrated planning/SUMP cluster as a vital element of the urban mobility network. As such, it will be included in the transferability analysis, focusing on Europe and China. As the feasibility studies of the implementation phase of the project will be demand-driven, it is too early to say if non-motorised transport will be included. However, for China at least, it is quite likely that walking and cycling will play a role in the feasibility studies of WP3, as part of the modal integration and integrated planning assessment. The SOLUTIONS team’s discussions with the Mayor of Harbin (one of the cities which provided a letter of support for the project) revealed a high level of interest in this topic, similar to the concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.

2.5 Integrated Planning and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans

It became very clear during the discussions that a systemic approach to mobility policy and planning is gaining recognition amongst Chinese mayors. The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) concept presented in the workshop was well received; a number of Chinese researchers and city officials acknowledged the need to adopt a

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more participatory planning approach and emphasised the opportunity for knowledge exchange between Europe and China in this area.

Opportunities for future cooperation

The Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning concept is strongly promoted by the EU (Action Plan on Urban Mobility 2009, Transport White Paper 2011), pursuing an integrated approach. It focuses on planning for people’s urban mobility needs and quality of life rather than focusing solely on motorised private transport. The characteristics of a SUMP are:

• a pledge of sustainability, • the involvement of stakeholders and citizens in a structured collaborative

process, • the implementation of integrated packages of measures including different

types of instruments (planning, technical, pricing, information etc.), • coordination of the process regarding project timeline, spatial coverage and

participating institutions, and • a focus on achieving measurable targets.

The development of SUMPs present an important step forward over existing best practice by creating synergies and integrating sustainability targets in transport planning. European experience shows, however, that is not enough to set the policy direction within a SUMP; capacity building at regional and local level is also vital.

Next steps within SOLUTIONS

The SOUTIONS project could help building capacity via exchanges outlined in the CIVITAS model below (Figure 2). The SOLUTIONS project has started examining the transferability of the SUMP concept and monitoring existing implementations, e.g. in Brazil, where the development of SUMPs is been made mandatory for large and medium-sized cities. The examination will build upon the results of past and on-going research projects such as CIVITAS, SUMPs, ELTIS+ and others.

Figure 2: SUMP knowledge exchange approach

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Source: SOLUTIONS 2013

The SOLUTIONS project’s approach to the transfer of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans will be based on knowledge transfer from leading European cities in this area to cities in Asia and Latin America. Discussions with the China Academy of Transportation Sciences (CATS) regarding SUMP training workshops in Chinese cities are on-going. In particular, Harbin’s Mayor attended the final discussion between the European Commission, researchers and industry representatives, reiterating the city’s interest in an integrated approach to urban mobility, and in being included as a second-tier city.

2.6 Summary table

Cooperation area Opportunities for cooperation/recommendations Next steps within SOLUTIONS

Clean vehicles

Short term: exploit potential of current technologies, including alternative fuels. Wheel-to-well emissions should be taken into account Medium to long term: expand vehicle electrification. Develop common standards for batteries and charging infrastructure.

Focus on fostering technology adoption and policy tools to encourage vehicle-fleet energy efficiency improvement, examples from Europe and China (WP1)

Network management and road-user charging

RUC/traffic management systems should be introduced as part of a comprehensive system, including improving other modes’ attractiveness.

Assess the success and transferability of traffic management systems and road-user charging schemes (WP1), Examine measures that can be locally implemented (WP3)

Public transport

Examine both the successes and the failures of BRTs to understand BRTs’ transferability. Exchange knowledge on technology and policy issues, and operational and funding structures.

Feasibility study for a Chinese city (WP3), including implementation and operation aspects

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Non-motorised transport

Dialogue on the technical and economic feasibility, and the specifications of the enabling policy and funding environment to increase the introduction of non-motorised transport infrastructure and services. Link into European knowledge of interchange design.

Non-motorised transport is included in the transferability analysis (WP1 and WP3): it is likely that walking and cycling will play a role.

Integrated Planning and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans

Knowledge exchange on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), including local capacity building.

Examine the transferability of the SUMP concept (WP1). Facilitate knowledge transfer from leading European cities to cities in Asia and Latin America (WP2 and WP3).

3. Transferability of solutions: building on the CIVITAS model

While there is a wealth of information on the need for sustainable transport, and policies and practices that can be implemented, progress made in this area varies greatly between countries. A common assumption is that political and institutional frameworks can and will implement best-practice policies as long as technical information is provided (e.g. through a case study). This project’s contributors consider this to be overly optimistic, and conceptually and empirically over-simplified, particularly considering the differences in socio-economic and institutional conditions in many countries. There is a critical difference between a policy’s potential and the extent to which this potential can be exploited. Future cooperation between the EU and China on sustainable transport policies should aim to identify the way in which a number of factors influence the transferability of sustainable transport measures. It also aims to disentangle the relationship between key socio-economic and institutional factors that affect measures’ transferability.

Transferability depends on the characteristics of the measures themselves in relation to the specific context of the target city. This means that often there is no alternative to testing the transferability and the feasibility of implementation for each measure to the specific social, economic, environmental and political conditions in China and the EU, adapting them where necessary along the way.

Opportunities for future cooperation

SOLUTIONS will continue a long-term European-Chinese exchange on sustainable urban mobility through the China Academy of Transportation Sciences (CATS), an official partner in the EU FP6 PARAMOUNT project (2006-2009). The aim of this partnership was to inform Chinese urban transport professionals of European urban transport practices. PARAMOUNT activities had a high leverage effect through well-targeted specific events and initiatives involving well-connected organisations and multipliers. The CIVITAS Initiative played a central role exchange between integrated-transport experts and representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Transport;

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the NDRC showed great interest in the initiative and the SOLUTIONS project will build on this during the training and take-up phases of the project.

Examples from the CIVITAS Initiative were discussed at the Foshan workshop, along with the possibility of using the CIVITAS approach as a role-model for exchange among Chinese cities, and between Chinese and European cities. Within the CIVITAS initiative, 63 cities have demonstrated over 700 innovative measures which have been transferred between themselves and beyond since 2002. The approach is of significant interest to the Chinese city officials participating in the workshop; replicating it in China may provide an interesting opportunity to foster the adoption of innovative urban mobility measures and learn more about their transferability. An ideal basis for this could be the 100 smart cities, which will be selected by the Chinese government to lead the development/adoption of innovative urbanisation strategies. Mutual learning, knowledge sharing and cooperation between cities, supported by research and scientific policy advice could be initiated, drawing on European experience with this approach and then linked to European cities. In the discussions with the mayors and senior city officials during the workshop, it became clear that the focus of such an initiative should be on small- and mid-sized cities (by Chinese standards, i.e. cities between 1m and 5m inhabitants) to achieve a high level of transferability.

Next steps within SOLUTIONS

The SOLUTIONS project will assess the steps of the transferability process in the initial assessment of work package 1 and the feasibility studies in work package 3. The basic approach of the project will be:

• Assessment of the contextual conditions • Adaptation of measures to conform to the respective policy environment • Twinning leaders and learners • Guide and support implementation • Evaluate results and feed back into policy processes

There are a number of resources regarding the design and implementation of sustainable mobility measures available to city officials. In the European context, platforms such as the Transport Research & Innovation Portal (TRIP), ELTIS or CIVITAS are very popular for knowledge exchange. Chinese cities have already contributed to ELTIS by translating European experiences and by submitting Chinese experiences to the portal. SOLUTIONS will facilitate the continuation of this exchange.

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Similar approaches could be used to further tap Chinese knowledge and experience and use it to support intra-Chinese exchange, but also to allow European cities to further learn from China. While these knowledge platforms only provide a high level assessment of the measure and its implementation, this already provides some very valuable insights. The adaptation of policies to the specific conditions in a city is the next necessary step toward fostering adoption. The SOLUTIONS project will focus on the assessment of urban mobility measures’ transferability, drawing upon the exchange of information between transport and policy practitioners in Europe, Asia and Latin America. As part of work packages 2 and 3, knowledge exchange and mutual learning of city representatives will be a vital element of the training, and the feasibility studies respectively. While this will only bring together a limited number of cities from Europe, China and other regions of the world, this can be a showcase and seed for further initiatives in this area.

There has already been a substantial exchange and transfer of urban freight transport policy mechanisms within Europe, facilitated by a number of EU projects and networks such as Polis and CIVITAS. This experience can provide some useful insight into the process of transferring polices from the countries featured in this publication. However, technological, economic, political, social and cultural conditions are very diverse, so the approach needs to adapt to fit the purpose. Work to transfer urban transport policies from one place to another must identify the conditions under

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which a specific measure or package of measures was implemented, and adjust and adapt to local conditions where required.

4. Research frameworks for future cooperation

As stated in the previous sections, there has been substantial agreement on the urban mobility related content of “effective development and deployment of technology innovative solutions to major societal challenges of common interest” as referred to in the Joint Declaration on EU-China Innovation Cooperation Dialogue. However, further discussion seems necessary regarding the framework conditions for future research; this can be done at the EU-China Innovation Cooperation Dialogue in November 2013. It was clear from the workshop that there were many areas of interest and possible mutual learning from the European side; research priorities and cooperative funding opportunities from China were less well known.

Research cooperation through Horizon 2020 and corresponding programmes The plans for Horizon 2020 indicate that China will continue to be eligible to participate in future framework programme research projects, but will not be able to receive funding from the European Commission as it did under the FP7 rules. While this logically reflects the rapid economic development of China and its ability to fund its own researchers, it may also create challenges for future research cooperation with Chinese institutions; avoidable through a coordinated approach to joint programming.

During the discussions at the Foshan workshop, only a very few programmes with the potential to generate matching funding for cooperation with EU counterparts participating in Horizon 2020 were identified by the Chinese side, such as 863 and 973. The general sense from Chinese colleagues, however, was that funding could be made available for cooperation and demonstration projects. More definite discussions with Chinese counterparts about existing programmes and their structures would be very important. As a next step, harmonisation of these programmes with Horizon 2020 and most likely vice-versa, would be very desirable. Different conditions on the EU and Chinese sides, such as participation rules, timelines, funding amounts and/or rates and reporting could affect collaboration between both sides. Also, harmonisation of factors such as evaluation of proposals and reciprocity would be very helpful if joint collaboration is to remain at the same quality as current FP7 projects in cooperation with Chinese partners and even more so if research cooperation is to be intensified.

Opportunities for financing applied research and implementation Many of the measures examined in the SOLUTIONS project are likely to be cost-effective over their lifetime. However research to assess the transferability and actual

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implementation require additional funding. While climate finance mechanisms are not likely to be sufficient, they may provide the necessary additional investment to shift strategies toward low-carbon mobility and cater for the applied research to ensure this. One of the main climate finance instruments, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), has proven to be very difficult to access for transport projects, and is characterised by high preparation and monitoring costs. To date, only 11 out of 3871 registered CDM projects are in the transport field, with 36 more transport projects in the pipeline in 2012 (out of a total of 3891). Two of the few success stories for transport under the Clean Development Mechanism are Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and more recently also Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), for which standardised baselines have been developed, a key methodology that enables a relatively practical approach for accessing CDM finance.

Another possible source of funding for sustainable transport projects the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Over the last twenty years, GEF has provided US$3.84b for 914 climate-change projects, 46 of which included sustainable transport aspects. GEF projects have an average volume of about US$6m and require substantial co-financing and administrative effort, with average lead times of one to two years from application to project implementation. A number of policy and operational measures explored in this publication could be eligible for GEF, as its scope includes technology options, public transport infrastructure and policy development (UNFCCC 2013).

Other climate finance options are Fast-Start Finance and the Green Climate Fund, which by 2020 are planned to generate US$100b annually. So far, however, the pledges from industrialised countries indicate that this target may not be achieved. A number of individual initiatives have already commenced, such as the German Environment Ministry's International Climate Initiative (ICI) or the French Global Environment Fund, but as yet no common methodology has been developed.

Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) are currently being developed; transport projects represent nearly 20% of NAMA projects (Bridging the Gap website www.transport2020.org). NAMAs could provide an option for the funding of sustainable mobility measures in Chinese cities, as their scope may also include capacity building and policy development, technology, infrastructure, and potentially accompanying research, all of which could be supported by an industrialised country bilaterally or possibly via carbon crediting in the future. In the immediate future, other opportunities for low carbon transport could be explored within the technology mechanisms and the recently formed Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) and the Technology Transfer network.

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5. References

Bridging the Gap (2013) NAMA Submissions to the UNFCCC: An Overview from a transport perspective, http://www.transport2020.org/

European Commission (2011), EC White paper - Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system, Brussels.

Agreement for scientific and technological between the European Community and China, ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/ist/docs/international/st_agreement_en.pdf

Joint Declaration on the EU-China Innovation Cooperation Dialogue http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/joint-declaration-english.pdf

UNFCCC (2013) Nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing country Parties, http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_15/copenhagen_accord/items/5265.php