Sustainable mobility is experiencing a phase of "new" normal. The effects of the pandemic, which initially created difficulties for the entire sector, ended up accelerating a process that had already been under way for some time. The trend emerges clearly from the attitudes of citizens, who are increasingly inclined to adopt environmentally and health-friendly modes of transport. Further significant evidence comes from the growing number of more accessible "green" offerings in the market for two- and four-wheeled vehicles, as well as from the strategies put in place by local councils to place sustainability at the heart of their policies.

Sustainable mobility on a steady rise

Perhaps more than at any other point in recent history, customers, operators and institutions all seem willing to change the way they think about mobility itself. This is the case with sharing mobility services, at the centre of a quiet revolution: while the inclination to use public transport has fallen as a result of coronavirus — with services also forced to operate at reduced capacity — the range of alternative, sustainable solutions is growing in parallel, from walking and cycling to e-scooters and shared two- and four-wheeled vehicles.

The acceleration in demand for sustainable mobility is illustrated, for example, by cycling traffic data in Turin during phase 2 (which recorded a +335 per cent increase), and by the significant expansion of shared electric scooter fleets in major cities such as Rome and Milan. At the National Conference on Sharing Mobility, Luigi Onorato, senior partner at Deloitte Italia, stressed the need for "a strategic plan for the relaunch of mobility, to be developed at both local and national level, that aims at the evolution of infrastructure, guarantees safety, promotes intermodality and defines legislative measures to regulate new forms of mobility".

Hybrid and electric cars: how the market is changing

The "new" normal of sustainable mobility is also reflected in the car market. Last summer, the figure for Italians approaching the world of green mobility rose by as many as 78 percentage points, with the vast majority being men (81 per cent). Male, aged between 45 and 54, living in the north: this is the profile of those choosing hybrid and electric cars that emerges from a report by the solidarity purchasing association Ecoverso, in which the figures for the provinces of Milan (18 per cent) and Rome (11 per cent) stand out. At the same time, the market is adapting to growing demand by offering cars with green powertrains at increasingly competitive prices, also thanks to the support of eco-incentives.

European emissions standards are also playing an important role, contributing to electric cars gaining market share: this year the figure will rise from three to ten per cent, reaching 15 per cent in 2021; at the same time, CO2 emissions from newly registered vehicles have recorded their steepest fall since 2008. "EU standards, together with purchase incentives — explained Veronica Aneris, Italy director at Transport & Environment — are also driving the Italian market, thereby contributing to the government's National Energy and Climate Plan target of six million electric cars by 2030. Now we need to support an ambitious revision of the regulation, to ensure that the positive trend continues beyond 2021 and is not undermined by targets that are too weak for 2025 and 2030."

How Italian local councils are moving

The role of local authorities remains crucial to the full development of sustainable mobility, especially at a time of year when air pollution has once again become highly topical, alongside the controversial measure of traffic bans — regarded by some as ineffective and by others as indispensable. Nor should we overlook the boom in smart working which, as the head of research at Isfort, Carlo Carminucci, explained to us, represents "the leading edge of a process of organisational and social innovation in which it is worth investing heavily, given the undeniable benefits it brings: rationalised and better-structured mobility, fewer peak hours and less congestion, less pollution, greater safety. But at the same time, supporting the push of these new paradigms means driving innovation, digitalisation and planning with a far greater intensity than has been seen in recent years."

For example, according to Marco Granelli, councillor for mobility and public works at the municipality of Milan, remote working "is a solution that only works when combined with a diversification of travel times and the means of transport used". In the Lombard capital, as many as 3,000 residents have decided in recent months to make a permanent switch to sustainable modes of transport, while from next month the ATM fleet will be expanded with 100 new electric buses. All in all, the triangle between citizens, the market and local authorities seems to be working ever more effectively, and is steering sustainable mobility towards a "new" normal: what until a few years ago seemed like a futuristic dream has become a consolidated reality.