Claudia Adriazola-Steil became aware of the importance of mass transportation as a young woman growing up in Peru. Now 51, she is deputy director of the Global Urban Mobility program and director of the Health & Road Safety program at the World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities in Washington, D.C. Her work focuses on the intersection of sustainable mobility, climate change and public health. She was interviewed by phone. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Why a career in transport?
I was working as a lawyer when a former professor said the Cabinet of Ministers was looking for young people who were well prepared to be in the government. Working for Peru’s Ministry of Transport was my first contact with the challenges transport brings to people. In Peru, public transportation is used widely, and yet the quality is very poor. Streets are very disorganized, chaotic. It is dangerous for pedestrians.
What are the Institute’s goals?
It’s a think tank; it’s also a “do” tank. We have three main areas of focus: people, nature and climate. We want to support the reduction of carbon emissions around the world in every way possible, to make this world a world that is livable and where everybody can thrive, respecting the resources that we have. We do it through research, action and by working in partnerships and coalitions.
I work to support cities around the world — mainly in Asia, Latin America and Africa — to have more sustainable transport systems that are not only low in carbon emissions, but also that are safe, equitable, and help people access jobs and services. We look at the economic impact of transport. We’ve done research that shows how only about 33 percent of the people in Mexico City have a commute of one hour to work, while most are so far that their commutes stretch from over one to three hours.
What’s the link between safety and climate?
We have to make the transport system safe to make it clean. Transport is one of these hard-to-abate sectors that keeps growing carbon emissions instead of lowering them, and accounts for nearly 25 percent of global CO2 emissions. Targeting transport is essential if we want to decarbonize. One way to do it is electrification. We also have to increase mass transportation, walking and cycling.
But the people who die most around the world are those who walk, cycle and use motorcycles. If we know that these streets are extremely dangerous, how can we ask our parents to stroll around and cross the street? I’m not ready to send my 10-year-old son to the house of one of his friends on a bike because I know that the environment will not forgive a mistake that a child would make.
If we don’t use safety as an enabler for sustainable transport, we will fail.
What’s been a particularly difficult challenge?
Including women’s perspectives in transport decisions. Women use mass transportation, cycle and walk the most. Most of transport leadership positions are occupied by men; that makes it difficult for women to co-shape the transport system.
What motivates you?
I lost my dear mom when she was 55 years old in a bike crash. I have the love of biking because of her. That’s a big fire inside my heart, because I know how fun it is to bike and how important it is for transport, decarbonization and our health. But we need to make our streets safer. If we keep getting more cars, we are not going to be able to get rid of congestion and emissions.
When we bike, we feel a little like children again. When we walk, we can talk to friends or just be with ourselves in our space. It might sound a little cheesy, but by doing that we are saving our world, we are contributing to decarbonizing our planet.
Are you hopeful?
Every day when I open the door of my house and walk on the streets, I feel this cannot be the system we have in the future if we want to manage emissions. I think it’s hard for humans to grasp science and the impact of what’s coming. It’s hard to change. We can do better. My colleagues around the world are so fired up, that when I talk to them, I know we can keep going.
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