Sus | Course Paper

DEDICATED TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE

The

Sustainable

Mobility

Project

July 2002 Progress Report

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

A joint statement from the CoChairs on

behalf of the Sustainable Mobility Project

I. The Sustainable Mobility Project 5

Definition

Background

Objective & Scope

Members

Outreach

Three Phases

II. A World Wide Effort 8

A Global Network

Stakeholder Dialogues

Communications Outreach

III. A Snapshot of World Mobility 9

Mobility 2001

Background

Selected highlights

Personal mobility

Developing World

Intercity Travel

Freight mobility

Institutional capabilities

Scorecards for developed and developing countries

Final thoughts

IV. The Grand Challenges 15

Eight challenges that, being successfully

met, would go a very long way to assure

sustainable mobility

V. The Way In Which We

Move Ahead 16

A set of work streams

Assurance Process

The Final Deliverables

Launched in April 2000, the Sustainable Mobility Project has

already produced an insightful, arm’s-length analysis Mobility

2001, which describes clearly the challenges facing the world’s

current systems of transportation. The report is available at

the project’s website www.SustainableMobility.org

We have now launched the main phase of the project.

Representatives of twelve major global companies, members

of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

(WBCSD), comprising the project’s core leadership, have

developed ten work streams, each of which is essential in

building an effective and meaningful response to the

challenges posed in Mobility 2001. An action team,

consisting of member companies but also including, for

several work streams, non-member organizations and

institutions, will manage each of the work streams. This

participation of external partners is essential to ensure the

quality of the project’s deliverables and a perspective

encompassing all major modes of transportation and all

regions of the world.

Indicators of sustainable mobility, selected by the project

after extensive consultations, will guide the action teams and

also be used to monitor team progress. Work streams will

address the supply and demand aspects of personal and

freight mobility, including infrastructure issues. They will

consider social, economic and political institutional capabilities,

which Mobility 2001 considers the “overarching” challenge

to achieving sustainable mobility. When these tasks are

accomplished, the project will focus on mobility in both its

urban and also its long-distance contexts, in developed and

developing countries.

Because one of the main purposes of the project is to develop

our visions of sustainable systems of mobility in 2030, we have

dedicated one work stream to this complex task. We will start

with a straw-man vision, but we fully expect it to change as

it is informed by the findings of the other work streams over

the next 18 months. Scenarios will be a feature of this work

stream, as will a series of mobility workshops involving a

range of partners and stakeholders from developing and

developed countries.

The integrity of the project and the quality of its work

product are the special focus of an Assurance Group, selected

by and reporting directly to the WBCSD. The men and

women of this group, representing different regions of

the world, are distinguished transportation and mobility

experts. The Assurance Group has already made several key

recommendations that the project has adopted.

The project hopes to create a platform for new and improved

cooperation among companies involved in mobility and to

outline plans for continued dialogue with stakeholder groups.

There is a growing understanding that business, governments

and NGOs need to join forces in creative ways if we are to

address effectively the challenges to mobility. We want to

encourage new partnerships, built on commitment to

common goals.

To be real advocates for sustainable mobility, our companies

must translate our words into actions. At this point in the

project, we do not yet know the full extent of what that may

require of us. However, as part of the project deliverables,

we intend to prescribe the steps required, over a realistic

timeframe, to achieve sustainable mobility.

The project will deliver, in December 2003, its visions of

sustainable mobility, looking forward to 2030, along with a

set of pathways for getting there. Although 2030 may seem

distant, in terms of transportation planning and execution,

28 years is a relatively short period of time. If we are to make

real progress by 2030, measures that will eventually produce

the necessary changes must be undertaken soon. We expect

this project to play a decisive role in moving our companies

forward and in helping to motivate other industries,

institutions and organizations to undertake similar efforts to

help define and achieve sustainable mobility.

4

Introduction

Thomas A. Gottschalk

Executive Vice President

General Motors Corporation

Dr Shoichiro Toyoda

Honorary Chairman

Toyota Motor Corporation

Philip Watts

Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors

Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies

DEFINITION

Sustainable Mobility is the ability to

meet society’s need to move freely,

gain access, communicate, trade and

establish relationships without sacrificing

other essential human or ecological

values, today or in the future.

BACKGROUND

The Sustainable Mobility Project,

launched in April 2000, is motivated

by the dilemma facing future mobility:

on the one hand, mobility is essential

to modern civilization and human

needs; mobility systems are facilitators

of economic activities and human

relations. Mobility literally makes

modern economies possible. On the

other hand, there is a growing

understanding that the world’s

continuing and growing demand for

mobility cannot be met simply by

expanding today’s means of

transportation.

The project intends to point the way

to mobility systems which are more

efficient, more equitable, and less

environmentally and socially disruptive,

while preserving the benefits that

these mobility systems provide.

Improved mobility of persons and

goods has been a fundamental

precondition to the standard of living

now enjoyed by the vast majority of

individuals living in the developed

world. Improving mobility

opportunities is likewise a precondition

to enabling those living in the

developing world to attain a similar

standard of living.

Past improvement in mobility have

been purchased at a large cost to

society. Projections of the social and

environmental costs of achieving the

mobility opportunities sought by those

not now enjoying them indicate that

they will dwarf those incurred to date.

It is unlikey that present levels of

mobility in the developed world and

the desired levels sought by the

developing world are possible under a

“business as usual” mindset.

In short, the world’s present mobility

trajectory is unsustainable.

OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE

Under the auspices of the World

Business Council for Sustainable

Development (WBCSD) in Geneva, the

members of the Sustainable Mobility

Project have joined together to identify

how to address this dilemma. These

members are all companies whose

long-term survival depends on doing

so. However, they also realize that they

cannot make mobility sustainable by

themselves. The task requires more

talent and resources than any one of

them – or, indeed, the entire group –

can muster.

The objective of the project is to

establish a vision of sustainable

mobility in 2030 and various

pathways for getting there.

The project covers all aspects of

sustainability (social, environmental

and economic); all modes of mobility

(air, sea, and land transportation); and

all regions of the world, developing

and developed countries alike. It takes

a global perspective, because the

challenges are global, and solutions

will depend on cooperation among

governments, business, consumers

and other elements of civil society.

MEMBERS

The twelve core-group companies of

the project are: BP, DaimlerChrysler,

Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan,

Michelin, Norsk Hydro, Renault, Shell,

Toyota and Volkswagen.

The WBCSD Sustainable Mobility

Project is unique in a number of ways:

First, the project is unique in its

membership. Many of the toughest

issues facing the world in making

mobility sustainable require the actions

of multiple industries – as well as

actions by governments and the public.

The combination of motor vehicle

manufacturers, energy companies, and

materials and component suppliers

brings a unique breadth of experience

and range of capabilities to the search

for sustainable mobility.

Second, the project is unique in its

scope. It aims at nothing less than

producing a vision for achieving

5

www.SustainableMobility.org

I. The Sustainable Mobility Project –

its characteristics

“If we are to avoid a

continuing descent towards

unsustainable gridlock and

environmental degredation

then the way we move

ourselves about is going to

have to change. We believe

that our own commercial

future depends on our

ability to adapt and meet

these challenges”

Mr. Philip Watts,

Chairman of Shell’s Committee of

Managing Directors

sustainable mobility that would

incorporate all modes of transport, the

transport of goods as well as persons,

and transport in the developing as well

as in the developed world. Such a scope

is necessary if the range of issues

required to make mobility sustainable

are to be understood.

Third, the project is unique in its process.

It is making an extraordinary effort to

reach out to an extremely wide range of

stakeholders, both to assure that the

perspective of its sponsors is sufficiently

broad and to communicate its message.

OUTREACH

collaborative and creative interaction

within the international community,

sustainable mobility is likely to remain

out of reach.

T

THREE PHASES

The project has been organized into

three phases:

•Phase 1: An analysis of current

patterns of mobility and their

sustainability. This phase

culminated in the Mobility 2001

report – a snapshot of world

mobility at the turn of the century,

The WBCSD Sustainable Mobility

Project is only about mid-way through

its scheduled lifetime. However, it

already has rung up a number of

important accomplishments:

First, it has assembled a group of firms

that, though competitors, must

cooperate in unique ways if mobility is

to become sustainable. It has helped

these competitors to move beyond

their parochial concerns and develop

a shared understanding of what

sustainable mobility means and what

it may require to achieve it.

Second, it has sponsored a report,

Mobility 2001, which is both

comprehensive and understandable to