The report developed by the Wuppertal Institute analysed lessons from current climate finance for transport, including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and ongoing discussions on standardised baselines for the CDM. Special focus was led on BRT methodologies. The theoretical findings were underpinned by experiences with local conditions in Hefei, China. The study used the ASIF model by Schipper et al. (2000) as conceptual framework to assess the suitability for standardisation of different transport indicators.

Due to the high diversity in transport characteristics and behaviour across and within countries, relatively small geographical scopes will be required for comparable standards in transport. This increases the data requirements and makes standardisation more difficult compared to more homogenous sectors, e.g. the power industry. In addition, the rapid dynamics in transport developments in developing countries will require constant updates of baselines.

The study found that default values are already being applied in transport methodologies for fuel emission factors or fuel efficiency of different vehicle types. For technology-related mitigation options there is some scope for standardised values for vehicle characteristics, which may be useful for other climate instruments than CDM as well. However, the authors came to the conclusion that non-technology options in transport such as achieving a modal shift through bus rapid transit systems remains very difficult to standardise. BRT baselines largely depend on modal structure, which differs from city to city, making baselines not easily comparable across projects.

This study was part of the Climate Instruments for the Transport Sector (CITS) study, commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in support of the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT). The CITS study provides an assessment of the current state of affairs with regard to the impact on the transport sector in developing countries by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). Based on desk analyses and case studies in Asian and Latin American cities, the study also provides recommendations for the successful scale-up of climate finance and capacity building, particularly by the use of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for the transport sector.