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.
Cement remains construction’s most difficult carbon challenge. Reclinker’s £10m raise to scale recycled cement technology, with claimed emissions reductions of up to 50%, signals that low carbon construction materials are moving from laboratory promise towards industrial deployment.
Clinker production drives much of concrete’s embodied carbon, making low embodied carbon materials central to whole life carbon, net zero carbon buildings and credible net zero whole life carbon targets. Blended cements, from Roman pozzolan principles to modern high-performance mixes, strengthen the case for green building materials that combine durability, resource efficiency in construction and carbon footprint reduction.
The shift towards sustainable construction now depends on stable regulation as much as innovation. Proposals to abolish the Environment Agency, scrap extended producer responsibility for packaging and loosen environmental rules would undermine confidence in environmental sustainability in construction, circular economy in construction and sustainable material specification. Developers, designers and manufacturers need certainty to invest in green building products, environmental product declarations (EPDs), lifecycle assessment and whole life carbon assessment. Demanding standards can support low carbon design, BREEAM, BREEAM v7 and sustainable building practices; unstable policy weakens the business case for decarbonising the built environment.
England’s worsening drought and growing evidence of urban heat inequality show why sustainable building design must address climate adaptation as well as the carbon footprint of construction. Energy-efficient buildings, water reuse, resilient landscapes and green infrastructure are becoming core requirements for sustainable urban development, eco-design for buildings and low-impact construction.
The next generation of low carbon building will be judged by building lifecycle performance, life cycle cost, end-of-life reuse in construction and the ability to remain safe, cool and habitable in a harsher climate. Green construction is no longer only about carbon neutral construction; it is about whole life carbon, circular construction strategies and sustainable architecture that protects people as well as the planet.
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