FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact Aug. 1, 2023
Megan Perrero, Partnerships & Engagement Specialist
[email protected]
The Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrea San Gil León as the new executive director of the Global Network for Popular Transportation (GNPT).
“I’m very excited to join GNPT as the executive director. I think there is enormous potential for improving people’s lives, reducing inequalities, and contributing to our climate through popular transport,” San Gil León said. “I look forward to joining forces with different initiatives, researchers, activists, and governments to ensure the worldwide recognition, integration, and support for popular transport.”
San Gil León was one of the original movers of the Global Partnership for Informal Transportation, the precursor of GNPT. She was named one of Costa Rica’s 40 Top Leaders Under 40 by the El Financiero Newspaper in 2011, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper in 2012, one of LATAM’s Important Female Figures in Transport by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2021, and one of the Remarkable Feminist Voices in Transportation in 2023 by Women Mobilize Women and the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative.
“This makes total sense for SUMC and the GNPT project. Andrea is a unique and distinctive voice in climate change, equity, and transportation,” said Benjamin de la Peña, SUMC CEO and GNPT chair. “She is globally recognized as a leader in popular transportation and is deeply networked with the emerging experts and leading practitioners in the field. She is the absolute right choice to move popular transportation and shared mobility to the center stage of worldwide efforts to decarbonize the sector and achieve a just transition.”
San Gil León led the development of Costa Rica’s Carbon Neutrality Program for the Corporate Sector. The project used technical standards to orient sustainability and climate policy in the country. She then founded and chaired Centro para la Sostenibilidad Urbana (the Center for Urban Sustainability), a non-governmental organization working to accelerate a transition towards more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities in the Global South.
San Gil León served as a presidential advisor to the Costa Rican government, working with the country’s First Lady to transform and decarbonize transport and urban development in partnership with local governments and ministries. She was also an advisor to the Ministry of the Environment, supporting the Climate Change Office by coordinating the implementation of climate-related policy across 10 different national agencies. San Gil León has also worked on international projects as a consultant to global organizations such as C40 Cities, ICLEI, The Nature Conservancy, the Inter-American Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement, the United Nations Environmental Program, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt.
More recently, she authored the chapter on informal transportation in the 2023 Transportation Climate Change Global Status Report, led the development of the Enciclopedia del Transporte Informal en América Central, and co-authored a report on three-wheelers for CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.
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About the Global Network for Popular Transportation
The Global Network for Popular Transportation (GNPT) is a project of the Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC), initiated by Agile City Partners, and supported by CoMotion Inc. GNPT is a global network of researchers, consultants, advocates, companies, agencies, and institutions committed to changing how the world sees popular transportation. SUMC is 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public interest organization, working to replace car-centric transportation with people-focused shared mobility to fight climate change, promote equity, and strengthen community. Learn more at www.sharedusemobilitycenter.org.
