Decarbonizing the Transportation Sector: Pathways, New Challenges, Technological Development and Sustainable Mobility Planning

Dear Colleagues,

The transport sector is currently responsible for about a quarter of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, significantly contributing to global warming. Scientists and climatologists agree on the need for urgent and significant action to reduce GHG emissions and limit global warming to less than 1.5 °C, as directed by the Paris Agreement. This goal is also in line with the UN policy that, in 2015, adopted the UN 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among which the decarbonization of the transport sector is a relevant goal. In December 2019, the EU Commission introduced the notion of decarbonization pathways which can help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, also defining specific emission-reduction goals for 2030.

Current planning policies and economic pathways of "business as usual" will likely fail in achieving the Paris Agreement and EU goals, and thus drastic societal and habits changes are required. These will require decisive political actions and a significant contribution will be provided by the so called “A-S-I” approach, meaning to “Avoid” substitutable trips, promote the use of more efficient transport modes (“Shift”) and increase the efficiency and safety of transport systems (“Improve”). The electrification of transport is probably the most mature and adequate technological action ("Improve") for decarbonizing the transport sector in the medium term, but several challenges must be still addressed, both for the vehicles and for the electricity supply system. In addition, mobility demand (e.g., commuters) will also have to be reduced, for example, through a structured and regulated use of smart working, and new policies will be applied to promote a significant modal shift toward the sustainable mobility (e.g., walking and cycling instead of motorized transport services). Furthermore, freight vehicle fleets must be used in a more efficient way (e.g., improving the average loading factor) and the use of energy-efficient vehicles must be increased and incentivized.

Decarbonizing the transport sector is a challenge, but also an opportunity for both the automotive industries and the transport service operators to take advantage of new future business models caused by, for example, the technological and digital transition, which will also open up new job opportunities.

For these reasons, an increase in scientific knowledge regarding these topics is necessary to support all public and private actors in defining and prioritizing future policies, actions and investments in the transport sector. Thus, this Special Issue of Sustainability is seeking contributions in the form of original and/or review papers which include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Decarbonizing the transportation sector and pathways to net-zero emissions;
• Policies and actions to perform the sustainable and climate packages' goals (e.g., UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); EU “fit for 55”);
• A-S-I approach applications and best practices;
• New challenges and technological development of the transport sector (e.g., electric mobility; mobility as a service (MaaS); autonomous vehicles);
• Transportation planning solutions and practices (e.g., sustainable urban mobility plans – SUMP);
• Mobility management policies and mobility manager;
• Rational decision-making processes;
• Travel demand estimation and management;
• Method and models for the simulation of the transport system;
• Transport service ticketing and pricing solutions;
• Sharing mobility, bike mobility services and infrastructures and new (innovative) transport services;
• Transport tank-to-wheel (TTW) and well-to-wheel (WTW) air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
• Life cycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint applications and analyses for improving the transport sector;
• Transport-related evaluation methods and applications (e.g., cost–benefit and multicriteria analyses);
• Freight transport, city logistics and supply chain policies, applications and management.

Dr. Armando Cartenì
Guest Editor

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• decarbonizing
• pathways to net-zero emissions
• SDGs
• fit for 55
• A-S-I approach
• technological
• electric mobility
• MaaS
• transportation planning
• mobility management
• decision-making processes
• travel demand estimation
• simulation models
• ticketing and pricing
• sharing mobility
• bike mobility
• cost–benefit analyses
• multicriteria analyses
• freight transport
• city logistics
• air quality
• GHG emissions
• life cycle assessment
• carbon footprint