Washington D.C. – The World Bank has launched a platform to make sustainable mobility accessible to as many people as possible. Technology will be key in bringing the project to fruition, but a change in attitude is also called for.
The vice-president of the World Bank, Mahmoud Mohieldin, and its lead economic advisor for transport, Nancy Vandycke, have considered the future of mobility in an article.
Despite its importance in achieving numerous targets, transport is not a distinct global sustainable development goal.
In order to achieve sustainable mobility, the World Bank has launched the Sustainable Mobility for All platform. Diverse stakeholders from the transport sector are involved.
Mohieldin and Vandycke highlighted the importance of considering mobility coherently to develop a sustainable concept. So far, UN authorities, individual development banks, the manufacturing industry and civil society have all acted independently.
The two World Bank representatives added that it would be paramount to develop concrete objectives for sustainable mobility. They underlined that these objectives are embodied by universal access to mobility, safety, efficiency and climate awareness.
As a third important aspect, the authors called for a transformation in attitudes towards the economic evaluation of transport projects. Traditionally, these analyses have focused on speed. However, high speed can cause more accidents. For this reason, explained Mohieldin and Vandycke, it is important to integrate aspects such as safety into these evaluations.
Technology will form the backbone of sustainable mobility in the future. The next important step is not to simply improve transport further, but to work on avoiding excess traffic.
Mohieldin and Vandycke revealed that passenger traffic will increase by 50 per cent by 2030. Freight volume will rise by as much as 70 per cent.
