The Pathway to Sustainable Transport

In 2015 the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 195 countries were developed and agreed. The target is to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Sustainable mobility and transport can be considered one of the main topics within this ambitious plan, considering its transversal influence in many of the 17 goals. In a world driven by global trends like climate change, local emissions, population growth, urbanization, emerging markets, digitalization, etc., a quick proactiveness to shift the mobility and transport to a sustainable way is mandatory. Taking all these drivers into a more practical level directly linked to mobility and transport, we can summarize them into four: congestion, local emissions, climate change, and energy security. There are many technologies and services to work on these areas. We consider three pillars as the umbrella to reach sustainable transport: energy efficiency, alternative fuels, and smart transport. In this chapter we will develop these three main pillars about what we can do already today without waiting some decades (probably will be too late in that case) but also looking into the future to give a neutral and realistic view. Why not begin already with the rolling fleet? If we train the drivers of a transport fleet reducing, for example, a 7% of fuel consumption, the carbon footprint will be reduced with 7% as well. Why wait 20 years until a new technology is developed? There are many opportunities in alternative fuels as well, already with competitive costs. Probably not all of them will be the solution everywhere, but they cannot be rejected. Some other alternatives like biomethane are a global solution for a circular economy with a huge potential to reduce local emissions and climate change and solve problems due to urbanization growth. We will try to explain why biofuels together with electrification are needed and why only electrification is not enough. Smart transport will be also covered speaking about which possibilities are available to make more efficient and safety transport and mobility, like bigger trucks or busses, or the introduction of advance driver assistance system (ADAS) in a new scenario.