This blog article is part of the Next Stop campaign by Sana’a Khasawneh.
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Like many young transport professionals, I wasn’t able to attend COP30 in Belém due to funding limitations. This experience is familiar across our field: the people closest to mobility challenges often watch global negotiations from a distance. Yet I followed every announcement and every shift in the text, not out of curiosity, but because the decisions made at COP will influence how cities plan, how people move, and how mobility systems evolve in the decade ahead.
COP30 won’t be remembered as the summit that transformed global transport policy. But it marked a clear shift in how transport is positioned within the climate conversation.
A Pavilion That Signals a Shift
For the first time in COP history, transport had its own pavilion, not a side event corner, but a dedicated space that brought together cycling advocates, road safety practitioners, public transport leaders, electrification experts, researchers, and youth networks.
For a sector that has long been “everywhere and nowhere” at the COPs, this visibility mattered.
It signaled that mobility is no longer a technical afterthought; it is a core climate domain, shaping emissions, resilience, equity, and quality of life.
Belém’s Mixed Legacy
The agreements that came out of COP30 carried both progress and frustration.
Countries adopted the first global Just Transition Mechanism, acknowledging that the shift to cleaner energy, industry, and transport must protect workers and communities. They also made a political commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035, opening possibilities for climate-ready mobility systems, resilient public transport, safer walking environments, and infrastructure that can withstand heatwaves and floods.
Transport was also formally recognized within a combined energy–industry–transport transition axis, reflecting the reality that decarbonizing mobility cannot happen in isolation from power generation and industrial systems.
Yet the negotiations fell short on the most urgent issue: there was no binding commitment to phase out fossil fuels. The text softened under pressure. The ambition hesitated. And transport, responsible for nearly a quarter of global emissions, remains tied to a global reluctance to confront the source of the problem directly.
Still, the conversation evolved. Transport was no longer framed as a sector to electrify “later” but as a critical lever for climate resilience, urban justice, and equitable development.
What the Next Decade on Sustainable Transport Holds
The new decade from 2026 to 2035 will be decisive for sustainable and inclusive mobility, not because of one summit, but because the pressures on our cities are intensifying.
Climate impacts will force a rethinking of mobility
Heatwaves, floods, and disruptions to supply chains will require cities to design streets and networks that prioritize resilience: more shade, better walking environments, reliable public transport, and infrastructure that protects the most vulnerable users.
Data will become political power
Crash data, pedestrian exposure mapping, emissions inventories, and street assessments will increasingly determine whose mobility realities are recognized, and whose are ignored. The next decade will be shaped by who collects data, who interprets it, and who gets to act on it.
Equity will move to the center
Women, youth, informal workers, and low-income communities already face the sharpest mobility barriers. Whether the next decade addresses their needs will determine whether transport systems become tools of inclusion or instruments of exclusion.
Safety still sits at the margins — and that needs to change
Road crashes remain one of the leading killers of young people worldwide, yet safety was not meaningfully elevated in the COP30 discussions or outcomes. The climate negotiations continue to treat mobility primarily through the lenses of emissions, energy, and electrification.
This gap matters. Climate resilience cannot be achieved while mobility systems remain deadly. Integrating the Safe System approach into adaptation and mitigation frameworks is not a technical detail, it is a public health imperative. The coming years will determine whether global climate policy finally recognizes that safety, equity, and sustainability are inseparable.
A Generation That Moves With Intention
A generational shift is underway. Emerging transport professionals see mobility not just as infrastructure, but as culture, health, climate resilience, and justice. Many of them weren’t in Belém, not due to lack of expertise, but due to lack of resources, yet they are shaping national policies, advocating in cities, producing research, and driving the global conversation from wherever they are.
We are working toward a future where walking is dignity, cycling is safety, public transport is pride, and mobility is a human right.
From Belém to Everywhere
COP30 will not determine the future of transport on its own. And its meaningful firsts came alongside clear disappointments: a softened text on fossil fuels, limited ambition on emissions, and the continued absence of safety and equity in the core climate agenda. The gap between what is scientifically necessary and what is politically possible was impossible to ignore.
Still, the summit marked some structural shifts worth noting:
A first Transport Pavilion.
A first Just Transition Mechanism.
A first recognition that energy, industry, and transport must transition together.
These don’t erase the shortcomings, but they offer anchors to build on. They signal an opportunity to push harder, demand better, and expand what counts as climate action.
The next decade is loading.
And how the world chooses to move, safely, sustainably, and equitably, will not be decided by declarations alone, but by the collective pressure, creativity, and persistence of all of us working in mobility.