Clean Mobility Solutions Learn how to correctly analyse this topic.

Sarah Simon

14 min Read Time | November 30th 2022

Key takeaways

1

The topic addresses the environmental impacts of clean transportation. It captures the technological efforts to transition towards greener transportation, compared to traditional modes of transport (internal combustion engines).

2

Ultimately, the impact of Clean Mobility Solutions lies in the GHG emissions and air pollution that were avoided, as well as requiring less land by using such technology.

3

The solution must be for other businesses and individuals to enjoy. The analysis must avoid remediation, such as solely discussing fuel efficiency.

Executive Summary

Today, many companies are working to provide clean mobility solutions to minimise environmental and social negative impacts. This is in terms of GHG emissions released into the environment, in some instances requiring less land to produce (such as hydrogen fuel cells compared to biofuel or hydropower), and air pollution that affects community health.

This topic addresses how companies are making efforts to transition to cleaner and greener modes of transport. 

It assesses the impact of the products and services in the form of solutions that allow individuals and other businesses to benefit from clean mobility.

The analysis should not solely discuss fuel efficiency, as this is based on remediation, and most companies are working towards 'using less energy or fuel'. 

What is it?

Since the advent of the 20th century, fast and cheaper mobility has largely been possible due to fossil fuels, enabling other technological innovations and leading to increased connectivity and population growth. However, fossil fuel-dependent mobility has exacerbated greenhouse gas emissions, the main fuel of climate disruptions and climate change.

Currently, transportation accounts for 20% of global CO2 emissions. With the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasting transportation demand to double by 2070 as a result of population growth and increased incomes, freeing transportation from GHG emissions becomes paramount.

Carbon emissions not only harm the environment in terms of GHG emissions and other environmental externalities like land degradation but leave people vulnerable to pollution and the health issues associated with that.

To tackle this challenge, the private sector has started to develop and deploy new technologies to decarbonise mobility. Clean mobility solutions include but are not limited to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and battery electric vehicles, as well as vehicles powered by ethanol, biodiesel, natural gas, and propane. It also encompasses the production of new low-emission fuels.

The analysis should not include hybrid cars, as they are the "wolf in sheep's clothing".

Sources

https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/cn/Documents/finance/deloitte-cn-fueling-the-future-of-mobility-en-200101.pdf
https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/what-is-a-low-carbon-transformation-part-v-transportation-2f453f0f2025
https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-technology-perspectives-2020/technology-needs-in-long-distance-transport
https://dieselnet.com/tech/energy_mobility.php
https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-hydrogen-fuel-cells#:~:text=Hydrogen%20fuel%20cells%20provide%20an,areas%20of%20land%20to%20produce
E SDG PRINT 13

Frameworks

✅ SDG: 13

✅ Impact Category: Products

✅ ILG: Climate Stability

Data Points & Units

Values we are looking for:

  • How many vehicles out of the company's total portfolio offer cleaner transportation?

  • How much of these vehicles account for out of the company’s portfolio? (%)

  • A comparison to the electric vehicle market (%) out of the total automotive market (i.e., compare percentage above to X% of EV out of total cars in the market)

  • How much of the electric vehicle market does the company makeup?

  • In what ways and by how much the vehicles are cleaner and greener? Are the company's clean vehicles known for any specific positive/negative features? Are they more efficient? In what ways?

  • What are the environmental impacts? Can be expressed via the total GHG emissions avoided


Some definitions:

  • Electric Vehicles Sold: Extract the number of electric vehicles sold by the company in a given year.

  • % of EVs or other clean vehicles out of the company's total portfolio:

Extract the % of electric vehicles or clean energy-powered vehicles sold out of the company’s total portfolio in a given year.

  • Mitigated emissions: Extract the estimated amount of GHG emissions avoided through the use of the electric vehicles sold by the company

Impact assessment

Introduction

The introduction should give the reader the necessary context regarding mobility and the social and environmental impacts.

Make sure to include information about the impacts of carbon emissions, air pollution, and if relevant, land degradation related to mobility and to clearly establish the industry’s role in the problem.

It should aim to answer the following questions:

  • Why is providing clean mobility solutions important?
  • What are the impacts of fossil fuel mobility?
  • How many tonnes of CO2e does the industry emit? Air pollution? Environmental externalities linked to land degradation?

Read more on how to build a strong introduction in this article.

Core Analysis

The development and adoption of clean mobility solutions are simultaneously occurring across different industries.

The topic addresses the positive environmental impact of clean mobility alternatives. The analysis should focus on substantial technological solutions created and adopted by companies to accelerate the transition towards cleaner mobility. The discussed solutions can address different negative externalities associated with transportation.

To include:

  • How many vehicles out of the company's total product ranges offer cleaner transportation (absolute metrics)
  • How much do these vehicles account for out of the total portfolio (%)
  • A comparison to the electric vehicle market (%) out of the total automotive market (i.e., compare percentage above to X% of EV out of total cars in the market)
  • How much of the electric vehicle market does the company make up
  • In what ways and by how much the vehicles are cleaner and greener
  • What are the environmental impacts, and how long-lasting and profound these impacts are (scale and irremediability)

Not to include:

  • Hybrid cars
  • Renewable energy solutions (not related to the core business)


Mitigated Emissions:

  • One of the ways to show quantifiable impact of the clean energy or electric vehicles is by estimating the amount of GHG emissions avoided on a yearly basis through their use.

The mitigated emissions are calculated as follows:

  • The average distance driven by a private vehicle in a year is approximately 18,500 km3. An average car emits 251 grams ( 0.000251 tonnes) of CO2 per kilometre (gCO2/km) & CO2 emissions makeup 76% of the CO2e. Therefore an average car emits 0.0003 gCO2e/km. The average GHG emissions released annually is 6 tCO2e.

  • Mitigated emissions = The number of electric vehicles sold * 6 t-CO2e

Thresholds:

Absolute Threshold: the amount of electric vehicles sold is equal to or above 50,000 cars

Exception: There is no threshold for companies that have a 100% electric vehicle portfolio



For companies developing these green mobility solutions, consider:
  • Has the company developed a new greener technology to reduce mobility-related emissions?
  • Is the company, on the other hand, adopting these technologies in its core business operations, significantly reliant on the mobility of people and goods?

If yes,

  • In what ways are the solutions cleaner and greener?
  • How many companies have benefitted from the products or services offered? What is their reach?
  • How many of them are on the market or/and actually rolling on the streets?
  • Have the solutions disrupted industries?
  • How long-lasting or profound are these solutions? Are they permanent or transitional solutions?
  • What is their scale? How profound a change do they make?


Please do not include discussions of renewable energy solutions in this topic.

Green mobility solutions for relevant companies include but are not limited to:

...amongst others.


How to measure the impact?

The analysis should discuss the following points:

  • The number of companies that benefit from the solution and/or total individuals

  • Its market share

  • Total GHG emissions avoided

  • Total air pollution avoided (SOx, NOx, PM...)

  • Landscape and biodiversity preservation (from using less land to produce) - if relevant

  • Comparison to the industry average or the average of three main competitors by using the grams of CO2e emissions per km


Make sure to describe the severity of the impact by taking into account:

1/ The scale of the impact

  • Is the life of people concerned deeply affected, or does the issue just marginally impact them?

  • Are the changes brought by the issue profoundly changing society or the planet?

2/ The scope of the impact

  • Is the impact local, national, or global?

  • How many people are concerned? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands?

3/ The irremediability of the impact

  • How long would the impact described last for? Months? Years? Decades?

  • How reversible is the impact described in the impact analysis? Can it be easily stopped/extended?



The analysis should remain critical and nuanced. What are the downsides?

For instance, replacing internal combustion engines with electric vehicles requires batteries. Lithium batteries come et a cost, from their extraction in mines to their end-of-life.

Another example includes the shorter lifespan of electric scooters and bikes, which will require additional extraction of resources to make new ones, and greater harmful waste.

Charging also requires greater energy, as well as hydrogen extraction, and not all are powered by renewables.


Secondary points

If a company has a significant impact by making a product or service very fuel-efficient (over 30% more efficient), then it can be discussed as a secondary point to the analysis.

To discuss it in your analysis, it should have the potential to drastically reduce mobility-associated emissions. Fuel efficiency measures the distance a vehicle can travel per unit of fuel consumed. Although the most widely used fuel efficiency unit is miles per gallon (mpg), please make sure to translate this unit into the metric system, or kilometers per liter (Km/L).

To convert one into the other, you might find this online converter useful.


Caution: Bear in mind that this topic deals with specific green technologies for mobility that ultimately free mobility from fossil fuel use. It should not discuss Efficient Energy Solutions.

However, this can be included within the 'Environmental Solutions' topic (such as for the Industrial Machinery & Goods industry).

Helpful Sources

DIRECT DATA FROM THE COMPANY:

  • Annual reports

  • Sustainability reports

  • CSR/ESG reports

  • URD (Universal Registration Document)

  • sales data tables on the Website of the company

Whenever there are doubts about the meaning of something, we encourage you to thoroughly read the reports of the company, considering footnotes, and methodology frameworks, as those might contain the answer to your doubts.

EXTERNAL DATA:

Cars, planes, trains: where do CO2 emissions from transport come from?
Technology needs in long-distance transport – Energy Technology Perspectives 2020 – Analysis - IEA
Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator | US EPA
Electric Vehicles for Low Carbon Transport
Fossil Fuels and Future Mobility
Fueling the Future of Mobility Hydrogen and fuel cell solutions for transportation
New Ways Carmakers Are Getting You More MPG
Fuel Efficiency: Everything You Need to Know
Decarbonizing aerospace

Refresh

1. Check if the assigned analysis has more recent data (we require the latest data available)

NO: do not refresh the analysis and please report it

YES: Move to step 2

2. Update the analysis following our Important Metrics & Standards

3. Check the introduction: Is it up to standard? Are sources working? Is data current and relevant?

YES: do not refresh the introduction

NO: move to step 4
4. Fix the introduction following our Standards

5. Fix the Headline

6. Fix the Conclusion

7. Add/Update the data points as per the available data

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