Stuttgart Climate Mobility Plan
Initial Situation
Ongoing climate change poses significant challenges to humans and nature. The Ministry of Transport of Baden-Württemberg has therefore established climate mobility plans as a new instrument to promote integrated and climate-friendly transport development. The goal of these climate mobility plans is to develop a strategic measures concept that achieves a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40%.
The verification of this reduction is to be carried out using macroscopic traffic modeling. Precise requirements have been defined for conducting the modeling. The state capital Stuttgart is one of the model municipalities where climate mobility plans are to be developed, allowing the practical applicability of these plans to be assessed.
Approach
The development of the Climate Mobility Plan consists of the following key components:
- Strategic Planning based on the SUMP process
- Detailed impact assessment using a transport demand model
- Intensive participation process
In strategic planning, following the EU guidelines for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), a target scenario is developed based on the analysis and evaluation of the current situation and a potential analysis. This scenario aims to achieve the emission reduction target of –40% in transport-related CO₂ emissions by 2030 compared to 2010. Concrete measures to achieve this target are developed and prioritized. In addition to the CO₂ reduction goal, further quantitative and qualitative objectives are defined and combined into an overall target framework.
The verification of emission reduction is carried out using a multimodal transport demand model, which quantifies the impact contributions of each measure. The modeling itself is subject to specific quality requirements and framework conditions set by the state of Baden-Württemberg, for example regarding fleet composition development (e-mobility) and CO₂ pricing.
The development of the Climate Mobility Plan is accompanied by an intensive participation process involving professional stakeholders, a citizen panel, the general Stuttgart population, and commuters. These groups are engaged through various participation formats.
Results
The current status of mobility behavior and CO₂ emissions was comprehensively analyzed, evaluated, and processed. Using a SWOT approach, the opportunities and risks for future development were identified, from which potential future measures were derived. The target scenario, with the overarching goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by at least 40%, was supplemented with additional transport-related objectives that provide the framework for achieving this goal. These include objectives for traffic avoidance, traffic shift, and propulsion technology development, complemented by qualitative goals addressing accessibility, traffic safety, social inclusion, and urban space compatibility. From this, a target framework for achieving the objectives was developed. Based on this, an extensive catalog of measures was created, consolidated into 71 individual measures.
The individual measures were operationalized within the transport model, requiring extensions of the existing modeling mechanisms. The modeling demonstrated that implementing the Climate Mobility Plan would achieve a CO₂ emission reduction of over 40%. To monitor these reductions, a comprehensive evaluation and monitoring concept was developed.
The Stuttgart Climate Mobility Plan was adopted by the City Council on May 16, 2024.