The people living on the African continent are particularly affected by the impacts of climate change, although their contribution to the emission of climate-damaging gases has so far been negligible. However, with its rapidly growing population, the continent has the potential to become a major greenhouse gas emitter, especially in the transport sector. Transport is already responsible for a third of the continent’s energy-related CO2 emissions and the trend is rising. The course can still be set to enable growth, prosperity and mobility without dependence on fossil energies and a rapid increase in climate-damaging emissions. This transformation of decoupling transport emissions from economic performance can only be successful with a political, public, scientific and transnational discourse addressing society as a whole.
Within the framework of the Rethinking Transport project, Agora Verkehrswende and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) therefore promote the creation of an independent network of African think tanks, research institutes, associations, companies and state institutions to strengthen the discourse on decarbonising the transport sector on the African continent.
As a groundwork for this project, Agora Verkehrswende and GIZ, together with experts from Africa and Europe, published the discussion paper “Leapfrogging to Sustainable Transport in Africa - Twelve Insights into the Continent's Sector Transformation”.
A central aim of the project is the inclusion and promotion of African experts. Agora Verkehrswende thus offers the opportunity to participate in a four-week fellowship programme in Berlin in early 2024. In addition to gaining insights into the work of Agora Verkehrswende, participants will have the opportunity to learn from renowned transport experts and develop their own strategies to kick-start the discourse on transport transformation.
Over the course of four weeks, these young experts will gain in-depth insights into existing strategies for decarbonising the transport sector in specialist workshops, group work and exchanges with renowned experts. The aim of the programme is the independent development of strategies by the participants to be implemented in their home countries.
Nationals of countries on the African continent with at least five years of experience in transport sector transformation are eligible to participate. Applications can be submitted here.
