The World Economic Forum and the Evolution of the Urban Ecosystem

The global oligarchy is all about reducing greenhouse gas emissions with a particular focus on reducing our use of vehicles with internal combustion engines, replacing them with over-priced electric vehicles.  As I have noted in the past, the World Economic Forum is one of the major proponents of the switch from ICEs to EVs and its drive toward electrification of transportation is clearly outlined in this briefing paper:

 

Here are the people behind the paper:

 

 

...neither of which has formal training in transportation, engineering or environment science as shown here:

 

 

...and here:

 

 

Nonetheless, never let a lack of training make one shy about promoting their viewpoints on the key issues of the day.

 

Let's look at the briefing paper.  It opens by noting the following (with my bolds):

 

"By 2050, almost 70% of people will live in urban areas, with towns and cities expected to grow by 2.5 billion people over that period. In an increasingly urbanized world, delivering healthy, inclusive, sustainable and vibrant cities is vital for both people and planet. When it comes to achieving this vision for cities of the future, there is perhaps no sector more important than mobility....

 

Electrification is a crucial component of the modern sustainable transport ecosystem. However, electrifying private vehicles is not enough to achieve the emissions reduction targets agreed in the Paris Agreement on climate. In order to create more equitable, liveable and healthy cities, a diverse range of approaches is required.

 

Electrification needs to be accelerated in sync with a powerful push towards more efficient, accessible and connected public transport, improved infrastructure and priority for cycling and walking, and integration of emerging mobility solutions such as shared mobility to create a suite of options to meet the wide-ranging needs of people moving about cities. It is only with a combination of these solutions that we can cut emissions to address the urgent climate emergency, reduce the number of vehicles on the road to make our streets safer and more accessible, all while transporting a growing urban population."

 

Here's a key quote:

 

"There is no pathway to meeting the Paris Agreement climate goals without electrifying urban transport, growing shared transport use and designing more compact cities."

 

Since the authors claim that electrification alone cannot deliver what the world needs to reduce the threat of global climate change posed by urbanites, the authors propose a shared, electric, connected and automated or SEAM approach to urban mobility.  By adopting the SEAM approach, by 2050, the authors proclaim the following benefits:

 

1.) Reduce vehicles from a potential 2.1 billion to 0.5 billion

 

2.) Decrease measured mobility costs by 40%

 

3.) Mitigate >80% of CO2 from passenger transport

 

4.) Free up 75% of urban public space

 

5.) Save ~$5 trillion per year by 2050 due to reduced need for expensive motorways, parking areas and maintenance

 

Note the reduction in the number of passenger vehicles which must be put into context with the growth of population in the future.

In addition, since passenger vehicles cause over half of urban air pollution which led to 1.8 million excess deaths in 209 and nearly 2 million cases of asthma in children, the electrification of transportation will be beneficial by delivering cleaner and healthier air.  How that electricity will be generated is not addressed in this briefing paper however, one must assume that the authors believe that the vast majority of the electricity required will be sourced from unreliable renewables.

 

One of the key parts to the "new urban reality" will be designing more compact cities that prioritize active mobility (i.e. bicycles, walking) and shared transportation.  For some reason, when I think of compact cities, this cityscape from the dystopian movie Ready Player One comes to mind:

 

Of course, the World Economic Forum must play a role in the implementation of a SEAM ecosystem.  The WEFs Global New Mobility Coalition (GNMC) initiative will play a role, acting by facilitating dialogue between the private sector, public organization and NGOs to "identify the root challenges and practical solutions" that ensure that the transition is equitable for all urban dwellers.  Its aim is to help cities identify strengths and gaps in urban mobility, understand barriers to progress and raise ambition on advancing sustainable urban mobility.  As such, the GNMC has launched its Urban Mobility Scorecard (UMS) Tool which provides a platform to stimulate dialogue and action on urban mobility as follows:

 

1.) Connect public and private stakeholders

 

–  Create neutral platforms through events and workshops that open up space for cities, NGOs and private mobility operators to discuss shared challenges and explore solutions

 

–  Bring together diverse stakeholders to expand perspectives and increase awareness of innovative approaches and learnings from the public and private sectors

 

2.) Support decision-making

 

– Support urban mobility decision-making by building a broad-based consensus on roles and responsibilities, and developing collaborative ways of working

 

3.) Benchmark progress

 

– Develop a user-friendly scorecard tool, trialled with cities and backed by the private sector, to help cities track progress towards shared, electric and connected mobility

 

Here is the UMS Tool framework:

 

Here is the WEF's vision for urban mobility:

 

In closing, let's look at an example of the UMS Tool dashboard for an example city, Buenos Aires:

 

I think that you now have sufficient insight on how the World Economic Forum is steering the urban landscape of the future.  Electrification is a key part of the equation but is insufficient to meet the environmental goals that have been forced upon all of us by the ruling class.  As part of the new urban ecosystem, city dwellers will find themselves living in far less space than what they are currently used to and it is my belief that the WEF's vision is playing right into the 15 minute smart city narrative where urbanites are essentially heavily surveilled and controlled captives of their neighbourhoods, living in conditions that we cannot even imagine.  And if you should happen to think that you may be exempt from this new reality because you are living in a small city, you might wish to think again because the UMS Tool is being designed to work for smaller cities as well.