The European Commission endorses WBCSD set of indicators to help cities advance sustainable mobility

Today, the European Commission announced its endorsement of the Sustainable Mobility Indicators issued by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Geneva, 12 April 2016 –  The set of indicators provide cities with a reliable diagnosis tool to assess their sustainable mobility performances and deliver integrated sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs).

The indicator set is the result of a collaboration between the members of WBCSD’s Sustainable Mobility Project (SMP2.0), the Ghent University, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Transport Forum (ITF). It has been tested in six cities (Lisbon, Hamburg, Indore, Chengdu, Bangkok and Campinas) allowing the methodologies to be refined.

Manuel Salgado, Lisbon City Councilor for Urban Planning and Mobility, said:
“This project allowed us to have a better understanding of where Lisbon mobility strengths and weaknesses are, particularly when compared with other world cities: This is an effort we thank WBCSD and Brisa for.
When we combined the diagnosis we made within the project with the mobility vision we have for Lisbon, the results were very clear and reinforced the idea that we need a clear change in mobility paradigm! ”

The indicators are grounded in science and incorporate outcomes from consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. They follow SMART selection criteria (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based) and span across four dimensions: quality of life, economic issues, global environment and mobility system performance. The framework includes citizen surveys to deliver a fact-based and shared vision of sustainable mobility rather than focusing on short term demands.  By allowing investments to be channeled in a stable manner, this holistic approach also brings benefits to businesses.

P Narahari, District Collector Indore, said:
“When we tried to put forwards various proposals for the improvement of the city mobility, we get lot of pressures from different dimensions. WBCSD study has enabled us to improve the mobility support of the city with its various suggestions. Now we are in a very comfortable situation to improve the mobility of the city. Now we can say that the WBCSD study which is done in a very scientific manner will enable us to convince everybody in order to improve the mobility of the city.”

For each indicator, there is a defined methodology for calculation and cities can benefit from guidance provided by the tool to find the relevant data. Following the endorsement from the European Commission, a free online platform will be available at the beginning of July allowing cities to perform automatic indicator calculations based on their data input.

This fact-based diagnosis of the city mobility system is part of a wider framework developed by WBCSD’s Sustainable Mobility Project (SMP2.0) to support integrated planning and implementation of urban sustainable mobility. WBCSD will communicate the outcomes of SMP2.0 throughout 2016 with a view to scale up the use of the SMP2.0 methodology and tools in other cities. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population is estimated to live in cities. A systematic, replicable approach is essential if sustainable urban mobility is to be implemented rapidly around the world.