Sustainable mobility goes way beyond technology
- Kapsch Summit 2023: Sustainable Future of Mobility was topic of this year’s event
Vienna, April 20, 2023 – Today, road transport is responsible for 25% of global carbon emissions, and while the pandemic initially led to a brief decrease, road transport emissions have more than rebounded in 2021, growing at an even faster rate.
The dangers of this are clear, but workable solutions to that problem are complex. What those solutions could be, and why cities play a major role in solving this problem, was discussed at this year’s Kapsch Summit.
Change requires collaboration
“We can and must make use of smart technologies to tackle this generation-defining issue, but to really solve it, we need a fundamental change in how we think about mobility”, says Kapsch TrafficCom CEO Georg Kapsch during his introductory speech at the event. “Ultimately, it requires tight collaboration between all stakeholders, from governments to authorities to the technology providers and the end-users. The only option to resolve the situation is technology – there is no other choice.”
This sentiment was also mirrored in the following panel discussion between Georg Kapsch, Executive Director of LSE Cities Philipp Rode, urban scientist Katja Schechtner and Kapsch TrafficCom CTO Alfredo Escribá. “We need to get all stakeholders on one table, so that the ecosystem can work together to make sustainable mobility a reality”, comments Alfredo Escribá: “The technology is the easy part.”
Educating environment is key
The panel also agreed that to enable productive cooperation, one of the key tasks for the industry is to educate stakeholders on what technology can and cannot do. “Public debate on topics like the 15-minute city is sometimes misunderstood and sometimes misappropriated by appeals that are not based on facts. We must fight this with data, facts, and the measurable impact of our activities”, Alfredo Escribá adds.
Technology is only part of the solution
“Technologically, a lot is possible, but sustainable mobility goes way beyond that”, Georg Kapsch summarizes in his closing remarks of this year’s Kapsch Summit: “We can do a lot of things, from reducing emissions, preventing congestion to improving air quality. But in the end, technology can only be an enabler of change – the political will to use the solutions at hand is equally as important. That is why we are doing events like this – to engage with our stakeholders, to show what is possible, and to bring together people with different ideas for the benefit of a future where sustainable mobility is a reality.”
- Look for summit updates and video on Kapsch TrafficCom’s LinkedIn page.
More information: Press | Kapsch TrafficCom
Kapsch TrafficCom is a globally renowned provider of transportation solutions for sustainable mobility with successful projects in more than 50 countries. Innovative solutions in the application fields of tolling, tolling services, traffic management and demand management contribute to a healthy world without congestion.
With one-stop-shop-solutions, the company covers the entire value chain of customers, from components to design and implementation to the operation of systems.
Kapsch TrafficCom, headquartered in Vienna, has subsidiaries and branches in more than 25 countries and is listed in the Prime Market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: KTCG). In its 2021/22 financial year, 4,220 employees generated revenues of about EUR 520 million.
Press contacts:
Carolin Treichl, Executive Vice President Marketing & Communications
Sandra Bijelic, Head of Corporate Communications
Further information: www.kapsch.net/ktc
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