EEA Transport and Environment Report 2022: Digitalisation in the mobility system: challenges and opportunities

Digitalisation plays an ever-increasing role in our mobility, shaping the way the system and our society evolve. To fully realise the potential that technology could bring, it will be fundamental to let environmental considerations guide this transformation. This way, we will come closer to achieving a sustainable and just transition.

• The mobility system’s digital transformation is ongoing. Digital technologies are playing an ever-increasing role in the system. Depending on how this will be …

Digitalisation plays an ever-increasing role in our mobility, shaping the way the system and our society evolve. To fully realise the potential that technology could bring, it will be fundamental to let environmental considerations guide this transformation. This way, we will come closer to achieving a sustainable and just transition.

• The mobility system’s digital transformation is ongoing. Digital technologies are playing an ever-increasing role in the system. Depending on how this will be managed, the effects may be very different.
• While potentially transformative, digitalisation is not always driven by sustainability. This means that it could impact the sustainability transition in various ways.
• While digital technologies can bring immediate benefits like efficiency improvements, they can also have indirect effects that can be much harder to predict and can strongly reduce benefits for the environment — or even worsen the pressures. 
• The mobility system has so far failed to deliver a significant reduction in GHG emissions. Incremental increases in efficiency have been overcompensated by increases in the demand for mobility services. 
• Nevertheless, digitalisation has the potential to foster incremental efficiency gains while also reducing the ever-increasing demand for services through system-wide optimisation. Societal benefits and impacts will be essential to consider alongside technological challenges.