What is sustainable mobility
The concept of sustainable mobility began to spread in the late 1990s along with the concept of sustainable development, and as one of its components. In the 2000s, the European Commission began to use the term "sustainable mobility" in its activities and documentation.
Sustainable mobility is the provision of services and infrastructure for the movement of people and goods that enhance the economic and social development of current and future generations in a safe, physically and economically accessible, efficient and resilient manner, while minimising carbon and other emissions and environmental impacts.
UN High-level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (2016)
Sustainable forms of mobility include walking, cycling, public transport (especially electric), vehicle sharing (car sharing, public bicycle or scooter sharing), and rail travel. Excessive use of private cars and air travel are considered the least sustainable forms of mobility.
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) are a tool for planning and achieving sustainable mobility. In 2014, the European Commission developed the Guidelines for the creation of SUMPs. As of 2022, according to the NGO Vision Zero, five Ukrainian cities had developed and approved Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans:
- Mykolaiv
- Poltava
- Zhytomyr
- Lviv
- Kamianets-Podilskyi
In 2020, the European Commission adopted the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. It forecasts a new European Urban Mobility Framework, including a proposal to revise the guidelines for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T revision). This proposal states that all major cities ("city nodes") on this network should develop a sustainable urban mobility plan by 2025. The new European Urban Mobility Framework outlines a common set of measures and initiatives for these cities, as well as for the rest of the EU, to meet the challenge of making their mobility more sustainable.
The objectives of the framework programme are, in particular:
- contributing to the achievement of the EU's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set by the Climate Act (in particular, -55% by 2030);
- improving transport and mobility in, within and around cities, as well as increasing the efficiency of home delivery of goods and services.
The idea is for cities to implement measures (administrative, infrastructural) within their territories that encourage positive user behaviour and discourage negative behaviour. For example, to encourage people to reduce the use of private cars, a new tram line is built and at the same time the cost of parking is raised. As a result, people's mobility becomes less harmful to them and the environment, and more energy efficient, as cycling or public transport requires significantly less energy per user/passenger.
