{"id":9895,"date":"2025-08-27T12:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T10:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/?p=9895"},"modified":"2025-08-27T12:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T10:04:20","slug":"the-obstacle-course-of-sustainable-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/08\/27\/the-obstacle-course-of-sustainable-mobility\/","title":{"rendered":"The Obstacle Course of Sustainable Mobility"},"content":{"rendered":"

High pollutant concentrations, climate change, and urban congestion have long drawn attention to the transport sector. Today, economic policy faces unprecedented environmental and social costs in this field. Responses range from road pricing to investments in rail, the expansion of local public transport, and the promotion of electric vehicles. All aim to manage growing demand for passenger and freight mobility, though not always effectively. The complexity of national and international economic contexts must also be considered, as well as the fact that the costs of the ecological transition can fall disproportionately on vulnerable groups. Setting out on the path to sustainable mobility is anything but straightforward.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some years ago, I had a heated discussion with a zoologist who claimed that economics was fundamentally flawed because, in his view, it ignored environmental costs. This peculiar belief stemmed from his misunderstanding of the concept of \u201cexternal cost,\u201d which in economics refers to costs without a price tag (though they have value), since no market exists for them and they remain outside individuals\u2019 decision-making. This means that every one of us\u2014including my zoologist acquaintance\u2014when consuming something, even just a cup of coffee, rarely considers the environmental damage it produces. Passenger and freight transport is no exception. When we decide to travel by car or bicycle, we give little thought to pollution, accidents, or tire wear. The goal of economics in this sector\u2014and in this particular historical moment\u2014is precisely to identify tools and policies that can \u201cinternalize\u201d such external costs, that is, minimize them (though never eliminate them).<\/p>\n

A Cyclone of Three Emergencies Hits Transport<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Transport today sits at the center of three major crises: climate change, congestion, and air pollution. In Europe, the sector accounts for 23% of greenhouse gas emissions, over 70% of which come from road transport. In Italy, the figure rises above 25%, with around 120 million tons of CO\u2082 emitted each year, mainly from cars and light commercial vehicles.<\/p>\n

Congestion\u2014an external cost borne mostly in cities\u2014is often understood as the delays we face stuck in urban traffic jams. But it also has serious economic and environmental costs. According to 2024 data from U.S. company Inrix, residents of Rome spend an average of 71 hours per year in traffic, those in Milan 64 hours. Nationwide, congestion costs the Italian economy around \u20ac11 billion annually in lost productivity, wasted fuel, and higher pollution.<\/p>\n

Air pollution from road traffic is one of the leading causes of premature death. In Italy, according to the European Environment Agency, in 2022 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) caused more than 47,000 premature deaths, with the highest concentrations in large cities.<\/p>\n

The transition to sustainable mobility is thus essential to addressing today\u2019s challenges. The EU\u2019s \u201cFit for 55\u201d package targets a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, with much of the focus on the transport of both goods and people.<\/p>\n

Policy Responses: Congestion Charges and LTZs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In recent decades, policies to reduce transport externalities have taken concrete form in various projects. Building on the theoretical work of Nobel laureate William Vickrey, road pricing measures are now popular among policymakers, who see them as among the most effective tools for managing private motorized transport demand and encouraging more sustainable alternatives. In Milan, for example, the introduction of a fee to drive within the Bastioni ring\u2014first known as Ecopass<\/em>, later Area C<\/em>\u2014apparently reduced central traffic by 30% and improved air quality. Similar schemes have been implemented in London, Stockholm, Singapore, more recently New York, and many other cities worldwide.<\/p>\n

Yet robust theory and wide adoption do not guarantee unconditional success: likely due to the small size of tariffed areas and weak preliminary studies, once technological innovation in the automotive sector is factored in, the added value of road pricing often proves disappointing.<\/p>\n

Beyond market mechanisms, regulation also plays a crucial role. The EU has ruled that the sale of new internal combustion cars will be banned from 2035\u2014a measure expected to accelerate electric vehicle uptake. In Italy, fully electric cars made up 4.2% of registrations in 2023 (compared to 0.1% in 2015), helped by public incentives of up to \u20ac7,500.<\/p>\n

Low-traffic zones are another important regulatory tool. Milan\u2019s Area B<\/em>, which bans Euro 3 petrol and Euro 4\u20135 diesel cars, for instance, has reduced emissions in the urban belt and encouraged shifts to less environmentally costly (though not financially cheaper) options. Increasingly, cities are also considering LTZs for urban logistics, regulating delivery vehicle access by time slot and emissions class.<\/p>\n

Where We Stand on Infrastructure<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But how do people and goods choose their mode of transport? Decisions between train, plane, or road hinge on the \u201cgeneralized cost\u201d of each option\u2014the sum of all monetary and non-monetary costs (such as time) required to reach a destination.<\/p>\n

Availability and efficiency of infrastructure are therefore critical. That is why the much-discussed \u201ciron cure\u201d (cura del ferro<\/em>) launched by former minister Delrio shifted policymakers\u2019 focus to rail investments. Yet today, only 13% of goods in Italy travel by rail, versus an EU average of 19%. The target is to reach 30% by 2030, supported by corridors like TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network) and the Turin\u2013Lyon line.<\/p>\n

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) also prioritizes transport, allocating about \u20ac34 billion to sustainable mobility: \u20ac11 billion for regional and intercity rail, \u20ac8 billion for metro systems, tramways, and electric buses, and \u20ac2 billion for urban cycleways and light infrastructure (see also Marco Spinedi\u2019s article in this issue). From a cost-benefit perspective, these investments\u2014especially in rail\u2014are justified by the external cost reductions from pollution and greenhouse gases. But if, in the not-too-distant future, most road transport is powered by electricity, what becomes of these benefits? Today, rail investments are justified by the goal of shifting traffic away from cars, which pollute more. But if tomorrow cars and other vehicles are much more environmentally efficient thanks to electrification, these benefits disappear, and publicly funded infrastructure loses its social value. In short, the case for rail investment is strongest when the share of electric vehicles is low.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the shift to electric introduces new dependencies. Lithium batteries, the cornerstone of electric vehicles, depend on supply chains concentrated in a few countries: China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia. The EU knows this well, having launched the Critical Raw Materials Act to foster domestic supply chains and recycling strategies. But Europe\u2019s weak competitiveness in electric vehicles is evident: the global leaders are all Asian or North American.<\/p>\n

Sustainable Mobility Starts with Local Public Transport<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The true backbone of sustainable mobility is local public transport (LPT). In Italy, however, its use lags behind other EU countries. In 2022, Italians averaged 190 trips per year by public transport, compared to 270 in Germany. Investing in bus and metro fleet renewal and in service expansion is vital, but financial sustainability is far from assured. Italian LPT is about 60% publicly funded, with the remainder covered by fares. To withstand the weight of necessary investments, attracting private capital\u2014through public-private partnerships and innovative instruments\u2014will be crucial. But this requires growing demand, to ensure revenues sufficient to cover investments (see also Carlo Scarpa\u2019s article in this issue).<\/p>\n

Digital innovation offers new opportunities: mobility as a service<\/em> (MaaS)\u2014using multiple services via integrated booking and payment platforms\u2014creates promising synergies between public transport, shared mobility, and micromobility. Pilot MaaS projects in Turin and Milan have shown encouraging results: up to +30% in combined use of public and shared modes within the first six months.<\/p>\n

Here we have offered a critical overview of selected transport policies, with particular attention to decarbonizing urban mobility. Every tool has strengths and weaknesses, but perhaps the greatest challenge lies in the economic fallout. As the French gilets jaunes<\/em> protests and Milan\u2019s Area B<\/em> show, the risk is that restrictive measures disproportionately hurt vulnerable groups: those in suburbs, those who cannot afford an EV, those who rely on older vehicles for work. It is therefore essential to accompany restrictions with substantial, not symbolic, compensatory measures: mobility vouchers, scrappage incentives, expanded LPT in underserved areas. Equally important are integrated geopolitical and technological scenarios, to ensure regulation is both socially and economically sustainable\u2014and not driven merely by the political mood of the moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marco Percoco is Professor of Transport and Territorial Economics in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi University, where he founded and directed the GREEN research center. He has served on the NARS, NUVV, and NTPE task forces of the Italian Prime Minister\u2019s Office. He currently acts as an expert for the NRRP Task Unit of both the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Prime Minister\u2019s Office.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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