At the 2024 IBTTA Global Tolling Summit in Sevilla, Nina Elter, Founder & CEO of NEWROAD Consulting, had the privilege of moderating a session on Green Mobility, bringing together key voices from the tolling and road sector to discuss the urgent need for sustainable transport solutions.
Our session opened with a hard truth: August 2023 was the hottest August ever recorded. The planet is heating up fast. For 13 consecutive months, global temperatures have remained 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Europe, in particular, is warming at twice the global average.
Lives and livelihoods at risk
The consequences are visible—and devastating. In 2023, over 15,000 people across Europe died from extreme heat. In 2022, that number was more than 60,000. Countries like Italy were hit hardest. And heat is only one part of the picture: flooding, droughts, and other extreme weather events are growing in intensity and frequency.
Spain’s economic losses from drought alone reached $8.2 billion in 2023. Europe’s weather-related damages have exceeded €50 billion annually over the past three years. Meanwhile, the Alps have lost 10% of their glaciers in just two years.
Every day, we are emitting 162 million tonnes of pollution. The majority – 80% – comes from burning fossil fuels. The energy trapped by this pollution is equivalent to 750,000 atomic bomb explosions daily.
And the transport sector? It’s a major contributor. Without action, its emissions will continue to rise.
This isn’t just about statistics. This is about the lives of people and the livability of our planet.
A call for action, not despair
But the session was not about despair. It was about action.
The way forward
Green mobility is central to Europe’s path to carbon neutrality. And it starts with the decisions we make today about the systems we build and the behavior we incentivize.
From electric vehicle infrastructure to multimodal integration, from data-driven tolling strategies to policy alignment across borders – our industry can and must lead.
As I said in Sevilla, we are not just discussing the future of roads. We are discussing the future of the planet. Collaboration is no longer optional. The time to act is now.
We have no other option but to succeed.
