E-Mobility as a Driver for Change Towards a Gender Transformative and Just Transition to Electric Mobility

United Nations 2 years ago

Uganda’s transport sector is currently defined by men driving heavily polluting internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles on poor quality roads. Motorcycle-taxis have come to be a defining aspect of the transport sector in Uganda, particularly in regional towns and rural areas.1 Women report widespread harassment in the transport sector and are vanishingly rare as motorcycle-taxi or minibus operators. While they represent less than 1% of motorcycle-taxi drivers, they have made more inroads in government roles and in mobility startups. However, official gender-disaggregated data on the sector is severely lacking, with only very limited public data on vehicle imports and registrations, workforce composition, the occasional qualitative report on women in transport, and private sector data that is not made public. The e-mobility industry in Uganda has begun to address some of the major gender gaps in transportation but remains a long way off in gender parity in both leadership and ridership. From a brief survey of the sector, women tend to make up between 30-50% of the e-mobility startup workforce, but without known female founders or executives. Additionally, women electric motorcycle riders represent only around 2.3% of the e-motorcycle fleet, though this is higher than the less than 1% operating in the ICE motorcycle fleet. This report is a deliverable under the project “E-Mobility as a Driver for Change - Towards a gender transformative and just transition to electric mobility” which is being implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project aims to ensure that the introduction of, and shift to, electric mobility (E-Mobility) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will include and promote the position and interests of women, to create a more gender transformative and just transport sector. Engaging more women in the E-Mobility ecosystem can in turn help to speed up the transition to zero emission mobility systems.
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layersDaily Sustainability Digest

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Record UK heat, now 130 times more likely due to human influence, has turned sustainable construction from virtue into core risk management. With Verisk forecasting $450bn a year in disaster losses, the test is blunt: assets that cannot withstand heat, flood and fire will be uninsurable or unfinanceable. Clients are commissioning resilience by design, low carbon design, sustainable architecture and energy-efficient buildings evidenced by whole life carbon assessment, lifecycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis. Whole life carbon and embodied carbon performance are moving to the front page of investment committees, binding environmental sustainability in construction to access to capital for net zero carbon buildings and net zero whole life carbon portfolios.

Regulation is tightening. A new fire minister responsible for building safety signals continued post‑Grenfell scrutiny of products and façades, placing sustainable building design, sustainable building practices, breeam and breeam v7 at the centre of due diligence. Biodiversity Net Gain is shifting from box‑ticking to a determinant of consent and land value, mainstreaming green infrastructure and sustainable urban development. With climate politics unsettled, investors are prioritising standards‑based assurance and demonstrable sustainability, reinforcing eco-design for buildings, sustainable design and sustainable material specification as non‑negotiable.

Materials governance is hardening. From April 2027, chemically recycled plastic will count toward the UK Plastic Packaging Tax only via certified mass‑balance chains of custody, a precedent likely to flow into construction product claims, environmental product declarations (epds) and the carbon footprint of construction. Expect deeper audits of embodied carbon in materials, low embodied carbon materials, low carbon construction materials, green building materials and green building products, with resource efficiency in construction, building lifecycle performance and carbon footprint reduction verified at product and project level to de‑risk procurement.

ScottishPower’s Hagshaw Hill decommissioning achieved 99.9% reuse and recycling, proving circular economy logistics at utility scale. The same circular economy in construction—end‑of‑life reuse in construction, circular construction strategies, deconstruction planning and life cycle thinking in construction—can lift reuse rates for buildings and infrastructure, cutting waste, life cycle cost and the environmental impact of construction while advancing decarbonising the built environment through low carbon building methods, renewable building materials, eco‑friendly construction and green construction.

Resilience, verified carbon data and circularity now define investable, low‑impact construction and carbon neutral construction.

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