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Sustainable transport and mobility

The Institute for Sustainability is contributing to the global sustainability debate among researchers and practitioners through this theme focusing on mobility and transport.

The challenge

Drone flying over city

Transport has been consistently among the sectors emitting the highest volumes of GHGs, coming fourth in 2010 and third in 2022. Energy use and buildings are the most highly polluting sectors currently, but GHGs from the transport sector have more than doubled in the last 50 years.

Remarkably, about 80 per cent of this increase is due to road transport, whereas aviation is responsible for another 10 per cent of global emissions.

Rental bicycles

The increasing global divide between the Global South and the Global North is evident across sectors, but it is more acute in transport since it is estimated that around 1 per cent of the global population generate more than half of it e.g. aviation emissions. Transport is a means to meet various human needs, varying from socialising and studying to working and travelling for tourism.

As a result, the implications on well-being, equity and inclusion require further research at local, national, international levels. However, transport is considered as an end in itself by others, such as parts of the tourism industry, which employs about 10 per cent of the global workforce.

This theme aims at addressing these challenges by bringing together experts from all three faculties of the University to create an inclusive platform focusing on collaborative solutions.

This theme paves the way towards impactful contributions to sustainable development. By fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations amongst experts from the three faculties, we aim to deliver pioneering outputs that not only align with the broader objectives of the Institute for Sustainability but also actively contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals.