The Paris Agreement established that the international community is committed to limit the planet’s rising temperature below 2ºC. It is an ambitious goal that can only be achieved with everyone’s effort: countries, cities, companies, and citizens.

In Portugal, one of the main sectors responsible for greenhouse gas emissions is Transportation. According to the European Environment Agency, this sector is responsible for 25% of the emissions and the main cause of city pollution. For these reasons, we have been witnessing big changes in the sector and the reduction of emissions can be applied by the Avoid-Shift-Improve concept:

Avoid –  reduce the needs of transportation and usage;

Shift – when not possible to avoid, shift the means of transportation in alternative to your private vehicle. People should seek public transportation, sharing alternatives or soft mobility means, such as bicycles, walking, scooters, etc. The market has combined efforts to offer more options to the public. However, there is a need for other platforms and structure;

Improve – In the means of transportation that keep on working, there is a need to achieve greater efficiency and reduce the emissions.

We could expect that the benefits that these alternatives bring to society and even in terms of personal costs would be sufficient, however, there are some concepts to demystify and adequate business models to find applied to vehicle acquisition, charging that may positively influence electric mobility.

For those who can’t avoid using their vehicle, changing to collective means or electric vehicles can be an excellent alternative to contribute to decarbonization with great economic benefits too.

Based on the article: “A nossa quota-parte para a redução das emissões” in Expresso, print edition of 27/07/2019 (Content in Portuguese)

Author: Mariana Bleck, International full-time Alumna, class of 2010, EDP Comercial SA, New Business Development, Smart Mobility Direction