A new report from influential global sustainability organisations and the International Road Federation (IRF) highlights the urgent need for policy guidance for data sharing between public and private sector stakeholders in pursuit of sustainable mobility and the wider Sustainable Development Goals.
The report, Sustainable Mobility: Policy Making for Data Sharing, outlines a comprehensive policy framework and guidance to support the adoption of data sharing.
“Sharing of data across multiple sources is essential for decarbonizing our transportation systems and making mobility safer, more efficient, and accessible. Policymaking for data sharing will help create harmonized, secure, privacy-centric, and ethical data-sharing ecosystems,” said Thomas Deloison, Director, Mobility, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCD).
There is also an urgent need for greater policy coherence in data sharing ecosystems, and governments need to adopt a harmonized and collaborative approach toward policymaking for data sharing. “This report addresses the existing policy gap around mobility data-sharing,” said Susanna Zammataro, Director General, IRF. “A sound global policy framework is vital to harness technological advances and to avoid siloed approaches that could hamper rather than support the development of a mobility that is sustainable for all.”
“Until recently, much of the conversation on transport has been driven by anecdotes or ad hoc assessments. With the vast amount of data newly generated by the private sector, the right policy framework in place to enable data-sharing between public and private actors, and artificial intelligence to process that information, we can now bring a higher level of objectivity and precision in diagnosing issues in countries and guiding policy choices” said Dr. Nancy Vandycke, Program Manager, Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All), the World Bank hosted organisation that assists countries worldwide in their ambition to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sustainable mobility.
Dr Vandycke continued, “As a coalition of more than 50 organizations from the public and the private sectors, SuM4All will continue to harness technical expertise from its members to think beyond existing paradigms, offer new insights, and support countries in their efforts to achieve sustainable mobility, including their climate targets.”
