Sustainable Mobility's Triple Bottom Line:
People / Planet / Profit

OraSIM™ Vol. 3, No. 1
Ora Research Letter on Digital Prototyping, Simulation & Analysis February 1, 2010

By Bruce Jenkins, CEO

Our last research letter explored the role of digital simulation and analysis in helping auto makers deliver more fuel-efficient and lower-emission vehicles. Today we step back and take a look at what, beyond greener products, "sustainable mobility" really means, what global and regional pressures drive the movement, and what challenges auto makers are encountering as they work toward these goals.

Sustainable mobility principles connect transportation and accessibility issues to holistic strategies for sustainable economic development. They entail the improvement and long-term well being of the environment, the development of local and regional economies, and engagement with a range of social justice issues. Sustainable mobility goals integrate efficient and accessible private, public and pedestrian mobility systems, vehicles and technology into a systems-based vision of a cleaner, more equitable society. The automotive industry has a critical role to play in ensuring, independently and in partnership, more responsible product creation, in more sustainable facilities, and for more efficient, eco-friendly and innovatively imagined personal transport options for a burgeoning global population.

How companies in the automotive value chain respond to the complex needs of the marketplace, of the environment, and of society is central to their long-term survival and competitive advantage. For these companies, the power of sustainable mobility is how it invites an engaged and proactive approach to the entire product lifecycle – challenging organizations to apply a wider, more holistic lens and strategy to their business ecosystem by shifting away from short-term, compliance-driven tactics toward strategies that optimize overall business performance.

The reality is that sustainable mobility is as much about the sustainability of the automotive and transport sector from a business and economic perspective as it is about meeting environmental and social needs. The well being of all three – People/Planet/Profit – is the foundation of the Triple Bottom Line of meaningful sustainability paradigms. As a result, business units, companies and the industry at large have a crucial partnership role to play in addressing the creation of not just “green products” but, rather, high-performing and successful products that continually develop to limit environmental impact while supporting a flourishing, highly mobile society.

Global drivers for achieving sustainable mobility include:

• Climate change and environmental concern
• Energy scarcity, diversity, and security
• Resource constraints
• Regulatory intensification
• Regionally varied regulatory frameworks and policies
• Urban congestion and urban sprawl
• Deteriorating or inadequate infrastructure
• Public health and safety issues
• Growing consumer demand for more responsible products and companies

Regional drivers Current and emerging regulatory environments present auto industry actors with a set of compliance frameworks related to environmental impact, emissions performance, efficiency standards, and diversified energy and fuel strategies. Additionally, the globalized reality of the industry presents the automotive value chain with site-specific challenges as well as areas of opportunity that directly impact the technological needs and development schemas supportive of successful, sustainable product lifecycles.

• USA U.S. auto makers’ sustainability initiatives are, at present, primarily focused on meeting aggressive CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets imposed by the federal government. The challenges are to develop and deliver compliant vehicles, on schedule, at prices consumers will pay. Sustainable manufacturing processes and facilities are also on the radar, though of less urgency at present.
• EU The European Commission reports that “about 80% of European citizens live in urban areas and mobility is becoming an everyday problem for them because cars are causing so much congestion. Increased car use has also been accompanied by safety and environmental problems.” One way being pursued to address this challenge is for Europeans to embrace electric cars. But, as in the U.S., barriers to electrification remain. As noted by CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, “With batteries costing thousands of dollars and limited to about a 100-mile range, consumer appetite is unclear. Infrastructure for recharging batteries is largely absent; utilities are wary of investing.”
• India is challenged with a massive and unevenly developed urban network, anchored by a series of megacities, in the throes of urban sprawl. Indian sustainable mobility issues are marked by an extreme emphasis on public health and safety, pollution, and skyrocketing demand for personal vehicles.
• China faces explosive population growth, burgeoning consumer recognition and demand for affordable mobility, and low consumer awareness of global green pressures which are, however, coupled at the producer and federal government level with strong awareness of the urgency of sustainable-development paradigms.

Getting there from here To date, the automotive industry has taken up the challenges of sustainable mobility with varying degrees of thoroughness and success. While sustainable mobility is formally integrated into the language of overall industry rhetoric and vision, the integration of a holistic strategy for sustainable product creation remains, for many, limited and/or narrowly implemented as companies chiefly react to the exigencies of regulatory compliance mandates for vehicle emissions and efficiency. Additionally, the regional specificity of sustainable mobility goals and challenges have clear implications for creating products that not only comply with a given regulatory framework, but also meet the mobility needs and market demands of specific regions.

Such issues add to the difficulty of not only effectively envisioning but also executing sustainability, on the ground, in the product lifecycle process. The sustainability governance statements and reports of numerous OEMs attest to these companies’ efforts to achieve this – but also acknowledge the challenge to “embed sustainability more deeply across all functions,” as Ford puts it.  Therefore, even as sustainability’s strategic importance is given strong recognition at the executive levels across the automotive industry, the manner in which it is communicated and integrated throughout auto industry organizations – and into the product creation cycle – remains a central concern.

Next time – Implementing sustainable mobility: PLM's benefits, challenges and opportunities

This research is excerpted from our new white paper Sustainable Mobility: Automotive Industry Challenges, Opportunities and the Role of PLM. Request your copy of the white paper