Giving the whole planet sustainable mobility will take work, study says
DETROIT, MI: If the undeveloped nations are to share in the benefits that the car and other forms of transportation can bring, the whole world is going to have to get involved so the adverse social and environmental impacts can be lessened, if not entirely avoided.
If current mobility trends continue, the study advises, ''social, economic and environmental costs worldwide would be unacceptably high.''
That is the primary finding of a massive four-year study by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) called Mobility 2030: Meeting the Challenges to Sustainability that was released here recently.
In large part, the study was self-serving for the companies involved, which included BP, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hydro, Michelin, Nissan, Renault, Shell, Toyota and Volkswagen. After all, Mobility 2030 wanted to assess ''the sustainability of their products and to envision the future of mobility, with special focus on road transport.''
But that doesn't tend to lessen the warning inherent in the study's exhaustive research, which can be seen at or downloaded from www.wbcsd.org, particularly with regard to the death and environmental tolls that could result.
The report defines sustainable mobility as ''the ability to meet the needs of society to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values today or in the future.''
The costs that the council deems ''unacceptable'' can, however, be avoided if society as a whole focuses on the achievement of seven goals set out in the report.
The report's seven goals include:
Mobility can be made sustainable, the reports claims, but this is ''beyond the capabilities of any one company, one industry or one country to resolve, and will require cooperation and effort from every level of society.
The report identifies no ''magic bullet'' solution, and indeed says that ''some mobility challenges will take up to half a century to resolve, but action should be started now.''