Let’s make sustainable mobility choices together!

Mobility and transport causes about one third of emissions in Espoo. This means that sustainable mobility methods must continuously be reviewed and developed further to reduce the climate emissions they cause. The City of Espoo is working together with and acting as an example city in the EU-funded SPARCS project, which aims to develop and demonstrate new solutions of sustainable mobility and energy. Espoo is a test environment for developing the solutions, and the best discoveries can then be spread further.

As a part of the SPARCS research project, KONE Oyj is studying the everyday mobility of communities. The company organised a mobility pilot together with the City of Espoo, Moprim Oy and Tapiolan Honka association. The pilot was implemented in Spring 2022, and two basketball teams from Honka’s hobby league took part in it. The pilot helps support the Carbon-neutral Honka project that promotes sustainable development in the sport association’s operations.

During the pilot, the participants used the Moprim Move Together mobile phone application that collects data on the various modes of transport used, the duration and length of the journey and its carbon dioxide emissions. The Moprim Move Together mobile application measures and visualises individual mobility behaviour and helps local communities make choices that allows them to achieve their shared sustainable mobility goals. Anyone can download the Moprim Move Together application to review their own mobility and make more sustainable choices in their daily life.

The application helped the Honka teams write down data about their own daily mobility choices. The collected data made the impacts on mobility on the team’s carbon footprint more visible and supports the change towards more sustainable mobility choices.

The interviews with team members revealed that, in particular, easiness, weather and time have a major impact on which mode of transport is chosen when travelling to a hobby. “It rained, so I took the car. When the weather is good, I prefer to walk without any hurry. It gives me some ‘me time’, a moment of quiet,” a member of one of the teams says about their car-riding habits.

Travelling to and from hobbies is a central part of everyday mobility to residents of all ages. Utilising sustainable modes of transport also during these trips supports the reduction of total mobility emissions. Walking and cycling trips also support active daily life and well-being. Carpooling to hobbies and back is also an excellent way to spend time together with friends and reduce the carbon footprint of mobility. Even small day-to-day actions and choices regarding mobility, for example, can make a major impact on the environment and on building a more sustainable way of life.