More investment should be made in the transport sector to reduce gas emissions by vehicles as a green growth and climate resilience strategy, environment experts have said.

The recommendation was raised during a high level policy dialogue in Kigali last week that brought together officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources, development partners, public and private sector stakeholders to discuss what the country has achieved and the challenges it has faced in implementing the green economy strategy.

The strategy was launched in 2011 with 14 programmes, among them green transport infrastructure.

It was recommended that greening infrastructure should be implemented across the country.

Lamin M. Manneh, the UN Rwanda coordinator, said, "There have been good steps in controlling and testing gas emissions by vehicles in Rwanda which must be availed in all cities. But the sector has to move to new strategies of reducing gases, namely looking at ways of reducing number of cars used in cities by designing pedestrian and bicycle ways along the roads.”

It is possible to install catalytic converters on vehicles to reduce air emissions, he added.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Vincent Biruta, said in January, 23 per cent of vehicles tested were found to emit dangerous gasses, which has since reduced to 7 per cent.

The Mayor of Kigali City, Fidele Ndayisaba, said plans are underway to design new roads with green pathways and adopting big cars for public transport, adding that such innovations go with mindset change for the public.

He said the plans are under new standards dubbed "NMT: non-motorised transport” Grappling with policy gaps

The dialogue also highlighted policy gaps in the implementation, role of the private sector in green economy investment and the way it will affect Global Sustainable Development Goals framework (SDGs) to be adopted in September.

Rwanda is among the only 20 countries in the world that received accreditation from the Green Climate Fund, according Manneh, which enables it to leverage funds for more climate change adaptation and resilience projects.

Innocent Kabenga, from the Ministry of Natural Resources, unveiled the recommendations from the study to bridge policy gaps towards the implementation of green growth and climate resilience strategy for its 14 programmes.

He said that for the transport sector to be green, policy should provide for environmental assessment of the transport sector by encompassing attribute-based standards such as fuel-efficiency and emissions standards.

Kabenga added that for a resilient transport system, policy should provide for aggregation and scientific management of end-of-use equipment such as batteries – for resale or recycling.

He also said policy should widen the choice portfolio for cleaner transport options, including ropeways, electric vehicles and fossil fuel-electric hybrid vehicles.

The director general of the National Industrial Research and Development Agency, Dr Joseph Mungarurire, said Rwf200 million was saved per year by seven industries that used cleaner production techniques, while 1,290 tonnes of carbon dioxide were curbed.

The water management, agriculture and forestry sectors marked a good progress such as in rainwater harvesting, irrigation, improved cooking stoves, energy supply and disaster management, according to officials.

However, for a sustainable green economy agenda, the dialogue recommended easing access to finance to adopt green technologies, giving incentives to private sector investors, better coordination, research to avail data for policy making, development of standards and skilled personnel.

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