Transatlantic Climate Dialogue: Climate tech for clean transport

Globally, the transport sector accounts for 37% of CO2 emissions from end-use sectors, and in 2019 it was responsible for more than half (57%) of the world’s oil consumption. In the second session of Friends of Europe’s Transatlantic Climate Dialogue series, four young entrepreneurs from both sides of the Atlantic discussed the potential of their climate tech solutions to decarbonise transport.

“Reimagining transport and making it carbon-neutral would be phenomenal for addressing climate change globally”, said event moderator and Friends of Europe COO and Chief Spokesperson Dharmendra Kanani. In the context of the ongoing energy security and climate crises, scaling up clean transport solutions is more urgent than ever, he added.

William Bergh, founder and CEO of Cling Systems (Sweden), explained how his start-up enables key players in the Lithium-ion battery value chain to close the circular economy loop, ensuring that end of life batteries can either be used as stationary storage or ‘mined’ for their raw materials. “We’re building a battery database, so we know which batteries have which chemicals in them,” he said. “Our mission is to build the world’s first ‘online mine’.”

Vianova is a platform that allows cities, public transport operators and other mobility providers to visualise ways to make transport safer and greener, explained Thibaud Febvre, Co-Founder and COO of Vianova (France). “It enables the exchange of information between mobility providers and cities on traffic and kerbside management,” which results in more cycling lanes, more dedicated mobility hubs and fewer cars on the road. The platform is used by 60 cities, including Zurich, Stockholm and Brussels. “It has created a significant understanding of how to transition more citizens to more sustainable, efficient and human-scale modes of transport,” he said.

Eva Romagosa, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at BusUp (Spain), explained her start-up’s mission to help companies and employees deal with the high economic and environmental cost of commuting, highlighted by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. “Outside city centres there is often no public transport, with cars as the only alternative. Through digitalisation and optimisation, we allow companies in the same areas to share transport services, we offer more routes and options for employees, which results in lower costs per passenger and fewer environmental impacts,” she explained. The cost per passenger is about one third of the cost of using a car.

Aviation is responsible for about 3% of global emissions and is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise, with currently no scaled-up solutions, said Kevin Noertker, Co-Founder and CEO at Ampaire (USA). His company is bringing the trend towards electrification into aviation, by upgrading existing airplane types with hybrid-electric propulsion systems. “Using electricity in aviation leads to a significant reduction in fuel burn and emissions, including leaded fuel which is still used in smaller aircraft in the US. Even with hybrid aircraft, you reduce fuel burn by about half, as well as noise.” Electrification will also increase accessibility, he argued, because smaller aircraft become cheaper, enabling airlines to fly them at higher frequencies to more destinations, serving more people.

Asked about the biggest barriers to scaling up these technologies, Romagosa said that while employee benefits with tax deductions for sustainable commuting were common in countries such as the US and Brazil, the situation is not as good in Europe, especially in areas with no access to public transportation. Febvre said that technically, it can be difficult to integrate large datasets, while from a regulatory standpoint data sharing remains a challenge. There has been a need to educate the European market about the digitalisation of traffic management and enforcement, as well as mobility sharing. “Policymakers should look at simplifying the regulatory framework rather than complexifying it,” he added.

Bergh pointed out that the EU regulations on end-of-life for vehicles and on batteries launched in 2000 and 2006 respectively lacked rules on EVs and Lithium-ion batteries. Both regulations are currently being updated but now, “no-one can really bet on where the industry is going to head”. For him, the key to an affordable, scalable model is a strong second-hand market. But for EVs, up to 70% of the car’s value is the battery, so “determining the battery’s value makes it easier for first-time buyers to invest in electric mobility,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Noertker said that most sustainable transport legislation does not include aviation, because it was only recently that it was thought possible to decarbonise aviation. A transition needs to happen, as for instance charging station infrastructure does not exist for aircraft. Another challenge is that aviation is a highly regulated industry because safety is critical, so requirements for suppliers and technology are much stricter than for ground transport. Nonetheless, Ampaire have been very successful, having flown over 20,000 km hybrid-electric already. Regarding the advantages of the technology, Noertker stated that because fuel burn comprises 30-40% of an airline’s budget, electrification means significantly lower cost per passenger mile, which can reduce ticket prices, allowing airlines to serve more communities in a more convenient way. The harmonisation of legislation across borders would also be essential to scale up such technologies, he stated.

When it comes to the future of mobility, there is a lot of pressure on the auto industry to deliver clean vehicles thanks to the European Green Deal, but this will not happen overnight, said Febvre. To avoid replacing internal combustion engine congestion with EV congestion, “we need to adopt new models of car ownership,” he added. That could mean smaller vehicles in cities, including micro-mobility solutions such as e-scooters, as well as car-sharing and autonomous vehicles, Bergh pointed out. “The revolution we are seeing is the consequence of seeking more efficient forms of transport,” concluded Romagosa.

This series is part of the European Young Leaders programme led by Friends of Europe that connects young leaders throughout Europe and beyond. They are trailblazers, exceptional business and civil society leaders, politicians, entrepreneurs, academics, artists, scientists, journalists and athletes.

The EYL40 programme builds bonds across nationalities, areas of work as well as different political and ideological viewpoints, develops innovative solutions for the challenges facing our societies and promotes role models who are passionate and committed to Europe and who can inspire our citizens.