Sustainable mobility. Is that possible?

Everyone is talking about the mobility revolution. And rightly so. For generations, we have been conditioned to flexible and individual mobility. Our favourite means of transport? The car. It feels like we get to our destination faster, and there is a car right outside our front door, we can move super flexibly. When it comes to longer distances, we prefer to travel quickly and comfortably by plane. Unfortunately, both means of transport are not necessarily environmentally friendly. The quantity makes the difference. Let's take a closer look:

Individual traffic in the city:

In individual transport, the car is the biggest CO₂ polluter per person-kilometre. A full 140 g/pkm are emitted. This does not even include the production of a car, which also causes a lot of CO₂ and ties up valuable resources.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, there are around 600 cars per 1,000 residents. The trend is currently going even further: We are heading for a second and even third car per household. At the same time, each car is only driven for a maximum of 1 hour per day on average and more than 50% of the journeys are shorter than 5 km. Within this 5 km, which are predominantly driven in urban areas, the engine first warms up and consumes the most fuel in this phase. On top of that, the engines create thick air (especially inside the car) and particulate matter in the streets. The icing on the cake is the microplastic caused by tire wear. In urban areas, in particular, parking spaces are becoming increasingly scarce, traffic is increasing and the cost of maintaining a car is rising.

So there is a lot to be said against the car and in favour of alternatives. But what are the alternatives? Admittedly: It's not easy to part with your car right away when it's already on your doorstep. But you don't have to. We at PLAN3T have thought about how you can change your mobility step by step to climate-friendly mobility and how you can reduce your ecological footprint. We have put together a few detailed tips and tricks for you in our PLAN3T app:

Leave your car on short trips (< 5km):

In cities, many alternatives make it easy for you to get to your destination. For example, how about biking or walking? These are the most environmentally friendly options, as they don't generate CO₂. E-Scooters and E-Mopeds, which you can rent from providers like TIER, felyx and Emmy, are also more sustainable than cars. Another eco option is public transportation.

Share your car or use car sharing:

A car's CO₂ footprint gets better when it replaces owning or buying another car. How about sharing your car with friends, neighbours and family? Some providers provide you with platforms that don't make you give up your mobility flexibility if you don't own a car. WeShare even does it all with e-mobility.

Climate-friendly driving:

During a car trip, you can also save a lot of fuel and minimize CO₂ emissions while driving by making a few behavioural changes. According to the German Federal Environment Agency, around 80% of your car's CO₂ emissions are directly related to fuel consumption.

And what about longer distances?

When it comes to longer trips, we recommend that you only choose the aeroplane when there is no other option. It is advisable to avoid short-haul domestic flights. With 240 g CO₂ per person-kilometre, the aeroplane is known to be almost in the first place as a CO₂ emission guzzler. With 140 g CO₂ per person-kilometre, cars perform better. This is only topped by trains, which produce only 38 g CO₂ per person-kilometre in long-distance traffic.

If you fly, we recommend offsetting your flight with high-quality projects. But even offsetting does not make the CO₂ generated disappear. Depending on which project you offset with, you increase the possibility that either fewer CO₂ will be produced elsewhere in the future (e.g. through sustainable energy-saving projects in developing countries) or CO₂ can be stored (by preserving forests and moors or planting trees). Want to know more? Find out more in our blog post.

Going on a sustainable vacation?

We use the two biggest CO₂ guzzlers - cruise ships with 300 g CO₂/km and aeroplanes with 240 g CO₂/km per person - on our vacation trips. This generates enormous amounts of CO₂ emissions and wastes on-site. Again, there are sustainable tips and tricks to help you enjoy your vacation without sacrificing travel.

It starts with planning your vacation. Generally speaking, closer vacation destinations are much more climate-friendly here, too. The choice of accommodation is also crucial because it makes a difference whether it is all-inclusive or whether the accommodation emphasizes sustainability. This way, you promote a sustainable economy in the region, reduce waste and energy consumption during your vacation. Likewise, the amount of luggage has an impact on CO₂ emissions during the trip, so it's better to pack less than more.

So it's not that hard to be sustainably mobile and keep your CO₂ footprint small. If you're interested in trying out more mobility options, you'll find lots of helpful tips worth knowing in our PLAN3T app. If you want to know how much CO₂ you can save by making one or two changes in your everyday life, start a challenge in the PLAN3T app today. Reduce as much CO₂ as possible and track your successes every Sunday. For every challenge you complete, we'll reward you with PLAN3T coins that you can redeem with our sustainable partners.