Page 18 - Guidelines for cities to achieve carbon Net Zero through digital transformation

By implementing these guidelines, cities can play a pivotal role in combating climate change,
advancing sustainability, and realizing a carbon Net Zero future.

4 Use cases

In the following subsections, several cases from around the world are analysed (Seto et al., 2021)
and explained their contribution and alignment to the city Net Zero framework.

City services, transportation and mobility

Micromobility and Alternative E-transit

Micromobility is a widely used term for low-speed modes of transport based on the use of electricity.
They are usually personal microvehicles such as e-scooters. Nevertheless, the types of vehicle that
are included in the term micromobility differ from country to country. For example, e-bikes are
included in this definition in the United States of America (USA) but in Italy, micromobility usually
refers to small electric devices, thus excluding e-bikes. The use of this type of vehicle, mainly for
short distances, is fostered via new shared mobility services such as bike sharing or e-scooter
sharing (Fazio et al., 2021).

Micromobility as a general transportation mode presents differences such as availability and usage
in each region, country, and even city. In Asia, for instance, e-mopeds are quite popular, as are
e-scooters in Europe and the US. In Europe, traditional bikes and e-bikes are quite common. In the
US, traditional bikes have started to be used again, as e-bikes gain in popularity. Not surprisingly,
given its long history, the bike remains, by far, the dominant mode of transport among city residents.
In China, its use is eclipsed only by the e-moped. The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are
leaders in bike use. In Barcelona, micromobility is combined with urban design innovations (like
Superblocks) where cars are restricted, which reduce nitrogen dioxide levels by 25 per cent in these
areas. In overall micromobility use, city dwellers in China use all modes more often than people in
any other country. France leads the European countries in e-scooter use. (Lang et al., 2022).

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