GLOBAL transport unions urged leaders at climate talks in Germany yesterday to invest in public transport jobs to cut CO2 emissions.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and International Association of Public Transport (UITP) offered assistance to nations at the COP23 summit in Bonn to “scale up climate action with public transport.”

ITF spokesman Andy Khan-Gordon said: “High-quality urban public transport investments will create millions of jobs.”

According to the global union federation, 13 million jobs around the world are linked to public transport provision and its supply chain — representing about 20 per cent of the entire transport sector.

The ITF urged doubling the market share targets for public transport pledged under last year’s Marrakech partnership agreement.

It said that would not only double employment in the sector, but reduce greenhouse gas emissions from urban transport by a quarter and boost GDP and productivity by 1 per cent.

“Growing public transport helps fight unemployment and boost the economy, while enhancing quality of life and reducing emissions,” Mr Khan-Gordon said.

“Citizens, cities and the planet will be better off with more public transport.”

Mr Khan-Gordon said investment in public transport yields a five-fold economic return — 70 per cent more than spending on road building.

“The evidence is clear that a job in the public transport sector is a green job, as defined by the International Labour Organisation,” he said.

Meanwhile, at the summit Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni announced the phasing-out of coal-fired power stations by 2025.

And Greenpeace staged a protest outside a coal power station in Neurath in western Germany.