United Nations, New York (10th December, 2025) – Diplomats, development partners and industry stakeholders gathered at the United Nations on 10 Wednesday 2025, World Sustainable Transport Day, to launch the United Nations Decade for Sustainable Transport. In 2023, the General Assembly declared the first ever United Nations Decade of Sustainable Transport to start in 2026. The United Nations Decade of Sustainable Transport will be an opportunity to further raise awareness of transport’s crucial role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and to gather and rally new solutions, resources and partnerships to advance sustainable transport globally.
Saint Kitts and Nevis welcomed the launch of the UN Decade with an intervention by Mrs. Lecia Phipps, diplomat at the Permanent Mission of Saint Kitts and Nevis to the UN who identified the mutually beneficial possibilities by stating, “Saint Kitts and Nevis’ Sustainable Island State Agenda (SISA) 2040 represents our national effort to achieve the Paris Agreement and accelerate the attainment of the SDGs, while advancing long term sustainability, resilience and security imperatives. Today’s launch of the UN Decade for Sustainable Transport is viewed by my delegation as a cross-cutting accelerator, just as the global community must work to mitigate the risks associated with economic rupture, marked by industrial protectionism and weaponized trade. Economic volatility denies vulnerable Small Island Developing States of critical vulnerability-aligned financing, technology and trade conduits necessary for sustainable development, and any international promotion toward driving forward mobility and connectivity should be lauded.”
According to the United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs (UN DESA), “While there is no single dedicated Sustainable Development Goal for transport, it is reflected in several SDG targets and recognized as an enabler for achieving many of the goals. Both the political appreciation of sustainable transport as well as our scientific understanding of transport’s linkages, both synergies and trade-offs, with issues such as resilient infrastructure development, food security, economic growth, trade, global supply chains, promotion of health, energy efficiency and tackling of climate change have greatly improved in the last years.”
Saint Kitts and Nevis’ Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Mutryce Williams noted, “It was important for Saint Kitts and Nevis to engage on this matter as the government seeks to transform transport systems in the federation, making transport safer, more affordable, accessible, and sustainable, all critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Additionally, transport accounts for a quarter of energy-related emissions, relying heavily on fossil fuels, making sustainable transport vital for climate action and poverty reduction.”
The accompanying Implementation Plan of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport is expected to serve as a strategic framework to coordinate actions, mobilize resources, and monitor progress towards sustainable transport worldwide. The Implementation Plan is expected to be global and non-binding in nature, allowing for more detailed regional, national and local plans, strategies and ways of collaboration, as suitable.
