How digitalization can boost transport policies for pedestrians and cyclists in Brazil

In Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, digital tools are transforming how cities plan for walking and cycling. An IKI-funded project uses data-driven insights to make urban mobility safer, smarter and more sustainable.

In two of Brazil’s most populous state capitals – Rio de Janeiro (6.7 million residents) and Belo Horizonte (2.4 million) – a specially developed algorithm to measure the volume and patterns of pedestrians and cyclists will help authorities to decide where to invest in active mobility infrastructure.

Funded by Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI), the UNEP-led ACCESS Project (Accelerating Access to Low-Carbon Urban Mobility Solutions through Digitalization) is harnessing digital tools to transform urban mobility policies.

Promoting smarter urban mobility

The initiatives are implemented in Rio and Belo Horizonte by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP Brazil). “We’ve been working since early 2025 on a series of projects to promote smarter urban mobility policies that reduce carbon emissions through increasing system digitalization and data innovation,” explains Clarisse Linke, ITDP Brazil Country Director.

With a five-year horizon, ACCESS in Brazil aims, among other goals, to monitor and strengthen active mobility – walking and cycling – as comfortable, safe options for residents of these two major cities, while decarbonizing transport and cutting urban pollution.

Monitoring movements for better planning

In Belo Horizonte, the project will monitor pedestrian and cyclist movements using cameras in the Clean Mobility Local Plan area – a downtown zone where the city government plans to reduce CO₂ emissions. Outside the central area, cyclists will be counted using mobile pneumatic-tube sensors.

In Rio de Janeiro, monitoring will rely on existing cameras in the Low Emission District in the city centre, where City Hall is discouraging polluting vehicles and promoting walking and cycling.

Supporting evidence-based decision-making

IKI’s backing helps to put cutting-edge data and analytics in the hands of local governments – support that strengthens climate action while improving day-to-day decision-making in Brazil’s largest cities.

In both Brazilian capitals, the analyses will support robust data-quality management and the integration of findings into national policy. “Together, these efforts lay the foundation for an evidence-based, responsive and equitable mobility strategy for Brazil,” Linke adds.

Nationally, ITDP Brazil is developing inputs to monitor active transport within the National Urban Mobility Information System (SIMU) and building a national data-science training program for urban mobility planning.

The project promotes the exchange of knowledge in Brazil and across Latin America and the Caribbean through the Digitalisation of Mobility thematic group – part of the SoMoS LAC Sustainable Mobility Community of Practice – led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The group aims to foster regional dialogue and collaboration around digitalisation in mobility, helping to amplify the impact of the ACCESS project by sharing its results with a broader audience – reaching more people, institutions, cities and countries across the region.

Paving the way for sustainable transport

ACCESS activities in Brazil will run until the end of 2029 and are designed to ensure that new technologies accelerate the decarbonization of urban mobility, paving the way for sustainable transport policies and solutions.

As part of a broader Latin American effort funded by IKI, the project supports low-carbon transport alternatives in five other countries – Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Argentina – helping to align city-level action with regional climate and mobility goals.

Learn more about the IKI’s activities in its focus country Brazil.

Prioritised field of action: Advancing the mobility transition

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