There are 4.8 million cars in Switzerland. They need motorways, car parks and lots of space that we could be using for other things. But to do that, we need a rethink – and more car sharing. If the Swiss shared cars more, many problem areas such as traffic jams, the tussle for space in cities and CO₂ emissions could be alleviated.
At the end of 2024, a study will have thoroughly examined Mobility’s impact on traffic. The key finding was that a single Mobility vehicle replaces 18 privately owned cars on average. Thanks to Mobility, around 40’000 cars and the corresponding number of parking spaces are no longer needed throughout Switzerland. Now that is sustainable!
Read more about the lasting impact of car sharing and the CO₂ targets of our cooperative in the following Environment Report for 2024.
The report on Mobility’s impact on traffic shows more clearly than ever before how important car sharing is for solving the mobility challenges of today and tomorrow. Roland Lötscher, CEO of Mobility, said the following: “For me, the results are an enormous incentive to further expand our offering.”
On average, one Mobility car replaces 18 privately owned cars. Extrapolated to the whole of Switzerland, this means that 40’000 vehicles have not been produced and do not require a parking space.
“Mobility’s car sharing offer means that parking space can be saved on a massive scale – space that is then available for other uses,” says the study’s co-author Fabiana Kappeler.
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People who use car sharing are proven to be on the road less often than people who own a car. This reduces pressure on the traffic infrastructure and reduces emissions.
On average, privately owned cars are out of use for 23 hours a day. Shared cars, on the other hand, have a much higher rate of use.
73 per cent of Mobility users live in a car-free household. Furthermore, 15 per cent said that they have got rid of at least one car thanks to the Mobility offer.
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In 2023, Mobility chose to join the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This means, as a first step, the company is committing to halving its emissions by 2030 (compared to its 2019 figure). In a second step, Mobility then wants to reduce emissions to net zero by 2040.
This is no easy feat. On the one hand, Mobility wants to grow and offer the population more car sharing so that mobility as a whole becomes more sustainable. On the other hand, every additional car directly impacts the cooperative’s emissions balance. Ultimately, 95 per cent of the company’s emissions come from the vehicle fleet it provides for hire. Accordingly, the most important and efficient measure is to electrify the cars in its fleet – a development which is constantly being pushed forward. Meanwhile, one in five cars is fully electric.
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Last year, the Mobility Cooperative emitted 11’391 tonnes of CO₂e*. This includes not only vehicle emissions, but all of the company’s emissions, such as those caused by employee commuting. Mobility was able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 432.7 tonnes compared to the previous year. “This reduction is due to three factors in particular. Compared to the previous year, the leased vehicle fleet covered fewer kilometres overall. The number of kilometres travelled in fossil-fuel-powered vehicles has decreased, while the number of kilometres travelled in electric vehicles has increased,” says Roland Beyeler, sustainability officer at Mobility. “This development confirms the effectiveness of our efforts to continuously reduce our emissions. We continue to focus on strengthening electric mobility and expanding our offering in a targeted way. After all, a single shared Mobility car replaces 18 privately owned vehicles. This means that each of our approximately 3’000 cars makes a significant contribution to creating more sustainable mobility.”
However, Mobility is also tackling emissions produced by commuting and, as an employer, offers various incentives: employees receive a free half-fare travel card plus a yearly credit balance for commutes on public transport via Fairtiq. Staff who cycle to work receive a contribution towards getting their bike serviced. And if they do need to drive to work, employees enjoy free membership of Mobility’s car-sharing service and discounted rates.
* CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) are a unit of measurement used to standardise the climate impact of different greenhouse gases. Alongside the most significant greenhouse gas released by humans, carbon dioxide (CO₂), there are also other greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide.
“Science based targets” are a globally recognised method by which companies can set realistic, measurable and, most importantly, science based climate protection targets.
Some 200 Swiss companies have now joined the SBT initiative. They are committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. Signed by 195 countries, the objective of this treaty is to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
For Mobility, this means emissions need to be reduced by 46 per cent by 2030 compared to the base year 2019. This equates to 2’984 tonnes of CO₂ being permanently removed. As an SME, scope 1 and 2 emissions are relevant for us (see explanation below).
Roland Beyeler — PRODUCT OWNER AND SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER
"Mobility has been committed to sustainable mobility solutions for over 25 years. We were able to reduce our CO₂ emissions last year."
The basis for determining the SBTi objectives is recording greenhouse gas emissions. Mobility records its emissions in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is the most widely used standard for preparing greenhouse gas balances. The Protocol defines three “scopes”.
Scope 1
Direct emissions that result from operational processes and facilities. For Mobility, these include emissions from the vehicle fleet it rents out and its ServiceMobiler vehicles.
Scope 2
A company’s indirect emissions, which relate to the purchase of electricity, steam, heat and cold for its own use. Mobility procures energy from renewable sources only.
Scope 3
These emissions encompass a company’s indirect upstream and downstream emissions. Included are emissions arising from employees’ commutes or from vehicle production, for example.
The SBTi has launched a net zero standard for businesses. This provides a clear and science-backed definition of net zero and is the world’s first private sector framework for determining long-term, ambitious and science-based net zero goals.
The requirements are as follows:
Only after reaching these goals can a company call itself net zero.
Car sharing is pure sustainability: after all, one Mobility car replaces 18 privately owned cars. Electric car sharing takes this a step further and significantly reduces CO₂ emissions. Since Mobility has set itself the goal of net zero by 2040, there is no way around operating the entire fleet electrically by then.
In 2024, two milestones were reached in this regard. In January, Mobility put its 500th electric car into operation – with a special design created by the artist collective REAL Crew. By the end of the year, this number had risen to 627, meaning that one in five vehicles in the fleet is now fully electric. By comparison: less than one in twenty Swiss cars is an electric car.
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Mobility customers have responded positively to the additional electric cars. Kilometres driven in electric cars rose by 56 per cent to 7.8 million last year. For many customers, our cars are their first experience with electric mobility. However, Mobility makes the transition easy by providing the best possible support. Last year, for example, the cooperative added a new function to its app that displays the battery range before a reservation is due to start. Users can also find vehicle instructions and help videos in the cars via QR codes. Locations with electric cars are now specially marked on the virtual map so that they can be found more easily if you want to reserve an electric vehicle.
And the work continues. This year, too, Mobility will be installing the infrastructure for charging stations at numerous locations. In addition, we have various plans to introduce users to electric cars in an even better way. Electric mobility is the future. But until then, a fossil-fuelled car-sharing scheme is still better than a private car.
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The average CO₂ emissions of Mobility cars in 2024 were a low 92.6 g/km (excluding vans). This is due to the ever-increasing number of electric cars and low-emission fossil-fuelled models. Due to the new WLTP standard, this value cannot be compared with past years. However, it is worth taking a look at the average CO₂ emissions of new cars in Switzerland, which was 112.7 g/km in the most recent survey conducted in 2023.
