UN-BACKED TV CAMPAIGN PROMOTES PUBLIC TRANSPORT AS SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL ALTERNATIVE

(Reissued as received.)

PARIS, 8 February (UNEP) -- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) have joined forces to promote the environmental and lifestyle benefits of public transport in a new television campaign.

An animated 30-second commercial available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and produced by McCann Erickson is scheduled to run across a growing list of international stations (BBC World, CNN International, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, National Geographic and Discovery Channel), starting with EuroNews from 10 February.

With the theme “The world is your home.  Look after it”, this public transport advertisement coincides with the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005.

Total greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector are growing faster than any other sector, and it is estimated to be responsible for 30 per cent of CO₂ emissions in Europe.  In Europe, approximately 50 per cent of transport trips in urban area are less than 5 kilometres.

The new campaign, the first of its kind between UITP and UNEP, aims to raise awareness of some of the advantages of using public transport, especially the environmental benefits.

To see the ads, and for more information on UNEP’s work in the transport sector, please visit www.unep.org.

For more information, please contact:  Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for Europe, tel.:  +33 1 4437 7613, fax:  +33 1 4437 1474, mobile:  +33 6 2272 5842, e-mail:  robert.bisset@unep.fr.

In New York, contact:  Jim Sniffen, UNEP, Information Officer, New York, tel.:  +1-212-963-8094/8210, e-mail:  info@nyo.unep.org, Internet:  www.nyo.unep.org.

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