NEW YORK — The eight largest multilateral development banks
(MDBs) announced today at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (Rio+20) that they will invest $175
billion in sustainable transportation systems over the coming
decade. “These unprecedented commitments have the promise to
save hundreds of thousands of lives by cleaning the air and
making roads safer; cutting congestion in hundreds of cities;
and reducing the contribution of transportation to harmful
climate change,” said the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Joan
Clos. “They will create more efficient passenger and freight
transportation, spurring sustainable urban economic growth.” The
pledge was made by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank,
the Latin American and African Development banks, and four other
MDBs. “Never before have these institutions collaborated on such
a global scale. The breakthrough that we are witnessing allows
us to plan for the one billion people who will move to cities
over the next 20 years, and the