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.
Digitalisation and decarbonisation are integrating at pace across sustainable construction. At Scotland’s Monklands project, digital workflows enable whole life carbon assessment and precision tracking of embodied carbon, cutting life cycle cost through predictive design and optimised offsite fabrication. The Durham initiative applying automated site assessment tools has accelerated approvals while reducing the carbon footprint of construction, aligning data efficiency with environmental sustainability in construction.
In Liverpool, biophilic eco-design for buildings demonstrates how sustainable building design is contributing to low carbon design and improved occupant wellbeing through living architecture that enhances green infrastructure. Government policy now links affordability with sustainability. Early measures from the Burnham administration suggest a commitment to decarbonising the built environment and net zero carbon buildings through incentives rooted in life cycle thinking in construction.
Regulatory pressure is mounting as agencies introduce more robust frameworks for carbon footprint reduction, reinforcing accountability across the industry. Material innovation remains central to progress. Enzyme‑based recycling and a £125 million facility for chemical reuse in Darlington indicate that circular economy in construction and circular construction strategies are moving into mainstream infrastructure.
These advances in low embodied carbon materials, renewable building materials, and green building products signal a shift towards carbon neutral construction supported by verifiable environmental product declarations (EPDs). Across digital tools, biomimetic systems, and progressive material science, sustainable building practices are redefining building lifecycle performance, embedding whole life carbon accountability into every stage. Efficiency, resilience, and ecology are converging to deliver net zero whole life carbon outcomes consistent with BREEAM v7 principles, confirming that sustainable design is now integral to construction’s economic and environmental logic.
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