Sustainable mobility, trends 2024. - MUV B Corp

22 January 2024

What are the emerging sustainable mobility trends in 2024 that are shaping the way we move around the world’s cities? In this article we make a prediction and analyze, ex-post, our January 2023 predictions.

1. The electrification of transportation continues and is confirmed as the first sustainable mobility trend in 2024.

Motus-E‘s estimate would confirm the increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EV): there would be just over 220,188 electric cars on the road in Italy as of December 31, 2023, an increase of 35.11% compared to the same period in 2022. There is one catch, however. Among the Old Continent’s greats, our country remains the only one where EV is struggling to take off. And while electric cars globally reach 19%, in Italy in 2023 they still account for 4.2% percent. The high price, doubts about autonomy and the spread of charging points are some of the reasons why Italian motorists desist.

Last year we brought the example of the French Electra, which in early 2023 was entering the Italian market. In January 2024 they raise 300 Million to finance their ambition to build the largest European network of charging infrastructure. Kudos Electra!
We can say that the number of registered electric cars is increasing and electrification is in full swing, thanks to the expansion of charging infrastructure and policies to incentivize the use of electric vehicles. These are all signs of growing interest in sustainable mobility in 2024, pushing us ever closer to the ambitious 2030 goal of 6.6 million electric cars on the road.

2. Consolidation of operators and increased regulation will characterize sharing mobility in 2024.

Sharing mobility continues to grow and will be a trend in sustainable mobility in 2024. This is confirmed by the National Sharing Mobility Observatory, in its annual report presented in November 2023; the number of total rentals in vehicle-sharing in 2022 grew by 41% compared to 2021. The number of Italian municipalities activating a vehicle-sharing service is also growing: Milan is confirmed as the capital of Italian sharing mobility and the third city in Europe for an increase in shared micro-mobility in 2023. The important fact is the reduction in the offer of scootersharing services in 2023, which has seen some major international players abandon our country resulting in a 45 percent decrease in the number of vehicles and the closure of 12 out of 22 services.

What does this mean? As Lorenzo Bertuccio, president of Euromobility, explains to Economy Up, we are seeing consolidation of operators and greater regulation of the sharing industry.

“In the current landscape of sustainable mobility, the phenomenon of sharing mobility is experiencing more of a moment of reflection. There is a consolidation taking place in the sharing sector, after a sort of initial bubble that saw an explosion of offers in the market. Many scooter and scooter sharing operators have left Italy, aware that this is a business reality with rather limited margins, accentuated by the presence of too many players in the market.”
Lorenzo Bertuccio, Euromobility President.

3. Smart technologies, connectivity and AI increasingly play a leading role in the way we move.

The growing importance of artificial intelligence and digital innovation is a key and increasingly relevant aspect of the transportation sector. This trend is in line with developments observed through 2023 and reflects a direction that is likely to continue into 2024 and beyond. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is not just an innovative technology but a transformative force that can revolutionize the way transportation operations are managed and optimized. It prevents accidents, optimizes travel routes, and improves overall safety through predictive analytics and real-time monitoring.

4. MaaS (Mobility as a Service) experimentation continues in 2024.

The first phase of the experimentation of the “Mobility as a Service for Italy” project with the first three identified pilot cities – Milan, Naples and Rome – ended in December 2023. A document containing the results and evaluation of impacts will be prepared later this year while the second and third phases of experimentation will proceed, which will extend the project to other cities and territories. The cities selected for the second phase are Bari, Florence and Turin while the territories identified for the third and final phase are the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and the regions of Abruzzo, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, Puglia and Veneto. Thus, the Italian government’s plan to integrate multiple public and private transportation services into a single platform continues.

5. More and more “City 30”

In 2023, the concept of “30 Cities” evolved significantly in Italy, with several cities adopting this model to improve sustainability and urban livability. As of January 16, Bologna became the first city in Italy to lower the speed limit to 30 km/h on most urban streets, thus joining a group of major European “30 Cities“, such as Madrid, Paris, Lyon, Valencia, and Helsinki.

Another example is Milan, which, following the 2024 sustainable urban mobility trend, is gradually lowering the speed limit in several areas. It will follow the model of City 30 Bergamo and Parma.

The European examples have shown that establishing a City 30 does not cause longer travel times for commuters: on the contrary, there has been substantial traffic calming and a significant reduction in accidents.

6. Companies are called upon to commit to reducing their environmental impact.

It is now a moral and social obligation for companies to pay greater attention to the environment, particularly to Scope 3, or those emissions produced in a company’s value chain as a result of its activities. Employees’ home-to-work commutes are often the main cause of “Scope 3” emissions and depend on habits and behaviours that are difficult to change.

As we explored in this article, 2024 marks the year when companies officially prepare to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The first companies will have to implement the new rules for the first time in fiscal year 2024, for reports published in 2025. A requirement to submit the Sustainability Report, which will replace the Non-Financial Statement, was introduced for companies that fall within certain parameters and then gradually for all in subsequent years. On December 22, 2023, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) were published in the Official Journal in the form of a delegated regulation.