Toyota works to improve Sustainable Mobility in Hamburg, Germany

Citizens and policy makers all want their cities to have safe, reliable and comfortable mobility for all. Ideally, this mobility should also be affordable, aim for zero traffic accidents, have low environmental impact and reduce demands on energy and time. But mobility is so intertwined with cities' physical, economic, and social characteristics that achieving these objectives can't be done from a drawing board. It requires taking into account the realities of each city.

Within its Sustainable Mobility Project 2.0, the World Business Council for Sustainable Mobility (WBCSD) has developed a process to identify transport priorities and measures to enhance the transport systems of cities. It is now testing this process in six cities worldwide: Lisbon (Portugal), Campinas (Brazil), Chengdu (China), Indore (India), Bangkok (Thailand), and Hamburg (Germany).

Toyota, along with 14 other member companies, is playing an active role in the worldwide sustainability project of WBCSD. It will participate in a city task force with Hamburg's Department for Economy, Transport and Innovation, which will, at an initial stage, work under the leadership of Daimler to analyse the city's situation and develop recommendations on how to improve sustainability in Hamburg's transportation system.

Toyota is also leading a similar initiative in Bangkok (Thailand). "We are contributing Toyota's vast technical expertise and knowledge to make tomorrow's cities safer, more efficient and more environmentally sustainable," said Michel Gardel, Vice President for Communications, External and Environmental Affairs at Toyota Motor Europe.

The cooperation agreement recently signed between the City of Hamburg and the WBCSD will run until the end of 2015. For more information, please visit www.wbcsd.org/Pages/eNews/eNewsDetails.aspx.

Notes to Editors

Member companies of the worldwide Sustainable Mobility Project

BMW, BP, Bridgestone, Brisa, Daimler, Deutsche Bahn, Ford, Fujitsu, Honda, Michelin, Nissan, Pirelli, Shell, Toyota, Volkswagen.

About the Sustainable Mobility Project 2.0

This three year project (2013-2015) aims to speed and scale up the implementation of sustainable mobility solutions using the latest technological, systems and management developments to improve the situation including:

• Fostering optimal city and intercity approaches to sustainable mobility by promoting cross-sectoral cooperation, and encouraging cities to cooperate on implementation, supporting citizens who want to lead more sustainable lives.
• Contributing to a prosperous and positive society by minimizing negative aspects of mobility, such as traffic accidents, and energy and climate change constraints, and maximizing the positive impacts of moving goods and people through more comfortable, secure, safe, accessible, efficient and diverse mobility options.
• Developing a clear and compelling vision for future sustainable mobility and concrete recommendations to achieve it, taking an integrated approach to mobility, energy, information, and citizens' behavior and choices.
• Defining an objective metric for assessing the sustainability of mobility in cities. It will be used for evaluating the impact of mobility options in order to enable informed decisions for effectively improving the mobility stream.
• Driving common understanding among key mobility stakeholders (e.g. cities, business, and government), on opportunities and enabling environments for attractive, innovative business models for mobility improvement projects with social and economic benefits, and minimal environmental impact.

About the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) 

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organisation of some 200 forward-thinking global companies, is committed to galvanising the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. Together with its members, the council applies its respected thought leadership and effective advocacy to generate constructive solutions and take shared action. Leveraging its strong relationships with stakeholders as the leading advocate for business, the council helps drive debate and policy change in favour of sustainable development solutions.