Tackling transport and mobility challenges is critical to addressing the climate crisis, given that transport emissions accounted for more than 20% of sectoral emissions in Ireland in 2020. A recent OECD (2022) report noted that current policies which aim to decarbonise the system via private vehicle improvements are ‘unlikely to lead to substantially different patterns of behaviour, rapid emissions reductions, and large well-being improvements’. A key challenge therefore is how to move beyond a focus on private, electric mobility to engage with more radical low-carbon alternatives to accelerate progress towards carbon emission reductions but also to actively enhance and sustain community wellbeing.
The CONUNDRUM project aims to empower communities to adopt more sustainable modes of mobility by demonstrating how shared low-carbon transportation can plug the gap when high frequency public transport might not be available. As well as addressing carbon reduction targets, shared mobility could support community wealth building through the development of novel initiatives that address a community need and reconnect people to their place and each other, contributing to addressing the challenge of isolation that many more vulnerable communities feel post-Covid.
