Nicolas Beaumont, Transport Advisor for the DDP Initiative, joins the forum the forum on May 7, in a dedicated session exploring the often overlooked role of “Avoid & Shift” strategies for freight decarbonization and supply chain resilience.

📌 Event details
Title: The Missing Link for 1.5°C and Supply Chain Resilience: Scaling “Avoid & Shift” for Freight Transport through International Cooperation
Date and time: Thursday, May 7 · 12:30 – 13:00
Duration: 30 minutes
Location: Open Stage Café – ITF stand
Format: Open Stage Café session
Organized by: IDDRI, International Union of Railways (UIC), Sustainable Low Carbon Transport Partnership (SLOCAT), Kuehne Climate Center (KCC), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and Climate Champions Team
🎤 Speakers
- Joo Hyun Ha – UIC
- Carly Gilbert-Patrick – SLoCaT
- Nicolas Beaumont – Transport Advisor for the DDP Initiative
- Mark Major – Kuehne Climate Center (KCC)
- Mohamed Hegazy – Climate Champions Team (CCT)
- Riina Jussila – United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)
While most policies emphasize “Improve” strategies—focused on technological solutions and efficiency gains—they often assume continued growth in freight demand and overlook the structural transformations needed to build sustainable and resilient 1.5°C compatible supply chains, decoupling development from energy needs.
This session highlights the importance of such “Avoid & Shift” transformations in reducing energy consumption, facilitating electrification of road vehicles, and delivering significant co-benefits for human well-being, as for example less battery needs, less road congestion, less road accidents, more supply chain resilience.
The session also calls for stronger collaboration to build a more ambitious cooperation initiative, recognized as one of the key voluntary commitments of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport.
Four key transformations
- Avoid unnecessary transport by promoting circular economy approaches (reduce, reuse, repair, recycle)
- Shorten supply chains through strategic industrial planning and policies
- Enable modal shift by developing non-road logistics infrastructure and integrating it into industrial systems
- Shift behaviors by aligning industrial practices and consumer expectations with such changes
The role of international cooperation
The effective implementation of the four above mentioned key organizational transformations partially depends on national actions but can also be triggered by an enhanced international cooperation around:
- Experience-sharing on national policies
- Technical assistance and capacity-building
- Improved financing conditions
- Development of legal frameworks related to production, trade, and transport
Three recommendations for action
- Launch an “Avoid & Shift” Freight Cooperation Platform
Connecting the four key transformations with the different tools of international cooperation, serving as a hub for best practices and joint policy development - Convene a multi-stakeholder coalition
Bringing together governments, industry, startups, and civil society to co-develop pilot projects and investment roadmaps - Integrate “Avoid & Shift” into national strategies
Embedding these approaches into climate commitments (NDCs), long-term strategies, and industrial policies