European countries, like much of the developed world, are navigating a plethora of challenges. Violence and uncertainty have been scratching at the door, just as the furnaces of productivity struggle to keep their flames alight. Herein lies a fundamental challenge: how do we keep the heat on at night without asphyxiating the entire neighbourhood or risk becoming the sick man of the world? My answer to catalysing sustainable prosperity, although biased by more than a decade of passionate interest, lies in investing in dull, sometimes ugly, and generally frustratingly late transport. 

If you are reading this niche periodical, you will probably be aware that transport is responsible for about a quarter of the European Union’s total emissions and that the sector’s relative share of emissions will likely grow well into the future, thanks to the transport sector’s inability to decarbonise and other industries’ rapid advancements. Yet, that is not precisely why sustainable transport matters. 

Sustainable transport matters because, regardless of the onslaught of crises, people (and things) want, and often need, to move. Supporting the EU’s 450 million highly mobile citizens and 330 million productive individuals are approximately 20 million transport sector employees [1] who, despite their best efforts or most altruistic wishes, currently keep Europe moving at significant cost: over €20 billion a month in petroleum oil imports [2], 300,000 premature deaths due to poor air quality [3] and a continued reliance on century-old technologies, which invariably results in lacklustre innovation and may contribute to long-term intellectual, industrial, and social stagnation. 

However, with the right financing and motivation, the 20 million men and women who keep Europe moving may soon be able to find salvation in the fact that their industry’s revitalisation has something which few others do: their sector affects everyone, and the numbers don’t lie in this regard. 

For example, completing the Trans-European Transport Network of roads, railways, airports, and water infrastructure will cost €750 million, but it is estimated to create 10 million jobs and generate an additional €4.5 trillion in GDP [1]. On the savings side, the development and subsequent adoption of bidirectional electric vehicle charging could reduce annual energy system costs across the EU by 8.6%, amounting to €22.2 billion per year [4]. Similarly, investing in clean and active mobility could lead to cumulative health savings of up to €1,170 per capita by 2050 [5]. As for the sectors that are hardest to abate, such as maritime and aviation, a comprehensive transition to biofuels and synthetic fuels could lead to energy localisation and shift geopolitical power away from the oilfields to Europe’s sunny shores. 

Yet, the cost of this sustainable transport transition will be immense: €1.5 trillion by 2050, to be exact [5]. A striking number, I know. Yet, one must ask: What would be the cost of inaction? What of the 20 million transport workers? And what happens if we don’t let the soothing sounds of innovation-fuelled optimism fade over the continued scratching of uncertainty at the door? 

You will find, dear reader, some of the ways by which we can finance this imperative transition in the pages that follow. 

Thomas Jérémie Hayden-Lefebvre
Editor-in-Chief, Green Mobility Magazine