17 February 2026 - Every morning around the world, billions of people step onto a bus, bike to work, wait for a train, or drive long distances to reach their jobs, schools, markets, and health care. Meanwhile, freight systems operate around the clock to deliver food, medicines, and essential goods to communities everywhere. As it connects lives and livelihoods, access to sustainable transport is a question of life and death, poverty and prosperity, and overall well-being.
Today, transport is responsible for nearly a quarter of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, while road crashes claim over a million lives each year. In many cities, unsafe sidewalks, unreliable public transport, and high travel costs disproportionately affect women, older persons, persons with disabilities, and low-income communities. When floods wash away roads, it is often the poorest who are cut off first.
The good news is that solutions already exist and they are concrete and tangible. Cleaner buses and electric vehicles reduce air pollution and improve health. Safe walking and cycling infrastructure save lives, while making cities more livable. Integrated public transport systems shorten commutes and lower household costs. Accessible public transport solutions enable persons with disabilities to participate in the work force. Advances in zero‑emission freight vehicles, efficient logistics, and better‑managed urban delivery systems are reducing congestion and lowering emissions from goods movement.
At the same time, resilient infrastructure, such as elevated roads, climate-proof railways, and better drainage, ensures that transport systems keep running as extreme weather events become more frequent. These solutions do more than move people and goods: they support climate mitigation and adaptation, improve road safety, and help advance almost every Sustainable Development Goal.
This is where the work of UN DESA comes in. At the start of 2026, the first-ever UN Decade of Sustainable Transport kicked off, offering a unique opportunity to put transport at the center of development planning and investment. Through its Implementation Plan, the Decade focuses on six areas that can help countries transform how people and goods move, including access for all, low‑ or zero‑carbon and resilient systems, efficient logistics, people‑centred urban mobility, safety and security, and innovation.
By bringing together governments, cities, private sector, and communities, and by linking transport solutions directly to the Sustainable Development Goals, UN DESA is helping build sustainable transport systems that are not only efficient, but fair, inclusive, safe, resilient, and fit for a world on the move.
Access more information and find out how you can become a sustainable transport champion: UN Decade of Sustainable Transport 2026 – 2035