Using the Sustainable Development Goals to Evaluate Possible Transport Policies for the City of Curitiba

Abstract

Cities across the world are becoming more engaged in tackling climate change and contributing to the achievement of international agreements. The city of Curitiba in Brazil is no exception. In December 2020, the city published PlanClima (Plano Municipal de Mitigação e Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas), a climate plan developed with local and international organizations. PlanClima aims to guide policies and actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This study focuses on selecting and qualitatively evaluating transport policies that contribute to the city’s 2030 climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With PlanClima’s analysis for the transport sector in mind, nine targets for 2030 are identified and connected to different transport policies. To evaluate the possible interactions between the policies and the different dimensions of the SDGs, four types of linkages were designed: essential, uncertain, limited, and opposite. These categories were developed to evaluate the several dimensions in which a policy can have a positive or negative impact. The results show that the implementation of zero emission zones/low emission zones, green public procurement, subsidy schemes for the uptake of clean vehicle technology, and the digitalization of the transport system through smarter public transport and digital platforms that couple bike sharing, taxis, and public transport are some of the measures that can contribute to the achievement of Curitiba’s targets and ensure a positive impact on the sustainable development of the city. The study highlights how different policy instruments can contribute to achieve the city’s targets, thus providing guidance to policymakers.