Voi signs onto Business Ambition for 1.5°C Campaign to raise awareness and increase climate ambitions in lead up to COP 26

The global community urgently needs to step up ambition for the best chance of tackling the climate crisis. Voi has signed onto the ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ campaign, a call to action from a global coalition of UN agencies, business and industry leaders intended to raise the ambition of the global business community and promote leadership in the lead up to COP 26. 

The campaign aims to showcase that a 1.5°C-compliant business model is not only possible but that such efforts are supported by evidence showing that these companies will be best-placed to thrive as the global economy undergoes a just transition to a net-zero future by 2050. 

By signing onto the campaign and setting its own science-based targets for climate action, Voi has also become a part of the UN’s Race to Zero as well as a member of the We Mean Business Coalition. The Race to Zero is mobilizing non-state actors who support a healthy, resilient, zero-carbon recovery– to build momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy and send governments a resounding signal that business, cities, regions, and investors are united in meeting the goals of the Paris agreement and creating a more inclusive and resilient economy.

As a leader in the micro-mobility sector, Voi intends to showcase how its e-scooter and e-bike services are implementable, scalable and replicable market solutions for contributing to a genuinely systemic transformation to a net-zero global economy.

15-min Cities for 1.5°C

“Shared micro-mobility is already today a viable alternative for short car trips in cities. By making our service more inclusive and further integrating with public transport, we believe that more people will find that they don’t need to rely on privately owned cars to travel around in cities.” 

– Fredrik Hjelm, CEO of Voi 

Our aim is to help cities and communities reverse car dependency and mitigate carbon emissions in a resource-efficient and equitable way. By making the right choices today, we can build a better future.

Voi is committed to advancing the movement towards 15-min Cities, and supporting bold and inspiring community-driven innovation for transforming cities and urban mobility to reach a sustainable future where average temperature rise has been kept to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We will continue to support communities’ efforts to reclaim the space allotted to private cars in cities and advance safe, inclusive, sustainable micro-mobility through our City Innovation Fund. 

By introducing new sustainable mobility practices that have the potential to replace the need for private car ownership in cities, Voi goes beyond ensuring its own operations are 1.5°C-compliant. Our service improves access to public transportation with multi-modal zero-emission micro-mobility options which increase connectivity, accessibility, and the convenience of low carbon transportation options for city residents. Enabling sustainable lifestyles and greater freedom of movement within cities with less associated carbon emissions.  

Why 1.5°C? 

Recent previews of the upcoming UN 5 year report on climate change tell us of the growing certainty among the scientific community that keeping climate change to below 1.5°C is a must-win initiative for both humanity and the planet. Growing evidence suggests the Earth’s natural systems are approaching ‘tipping points’ or levels of change at which climate scientists warn global heating will trigger feedback loops leading to cascading events with drastic repercussions. Meeting the most ambitious 1.5°C degree pathway laid out in the historic 2015 Paris Agreement is now more important than ever. It is still possible to limit warming to 1.5°C, but we are not on track and time is running out.      

What does this mean for Cities? 

While national governments prepare to bring their revised, more ambitious, emission reduction targets to the table at COP 26, UN climate talks taking place in Glasgow this November, cities across the world will be tasked with making them a reality. More than half the world’s population lives in cities, and they are the site of most of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. According to the IPCC, the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change, on average cities will need to halve their total emissions by 2030 in order to deliver a 1.5°C pathway. Cities across the world are rising to the occasion and taking even more ambitious action in order to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050 or sooner, including:

• Joining the 15-min city movement for a green and inclusive recovery: implementation of the 15-minute city, in response to the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis as well as the urban effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

• Transitioning to zero-emission energy systems and buildings: Mandating all new buildings be zero carbon and working with businesses and communities to transition existing built infrastructure and energy systems to be zero-emission and powered by renewable energy.

• Introducing LEZs and ZEZs: Implementing Low Emission Zones and Zero Emission Zones in city centres, where only low or non-polluting vehicles are allowed. 

• Reclaiming space from cars: Banning cars in certain areas and incorporating more walkable community commons and public spaces seasonally, or in some cases year-round. 

• Addressing the urban “heat island” effect: Incorporating more tree coverage and heat-reflecting roofs and surfaces into city planning to cool cities, improve air quality, and increase the vibrancy of urban areas.  

What does this mean for Voi? 

Voi has worked to understand and minimize the life cycle impact of its service on the climate through its Climate Action Plan, and continuously works to reduce remaining emissions while setting ambitious climate targets for the future.

• Durable vehicles: We have worked to ensure a long life for our vehicles in order to minimize resource use of our service. Through improved design as well as robust and data-driven repairs our scooters now have a lifetime of over 5 years.

• Net-zero operations: We want to see a transition to electric mobility. We are supporters and initiators of the World Economic Forum’s Zero Emission Urban Fleet, and have electrified all our operations in countries such as Denmark and Norway as well as in many other cities we operate in across Europe. 

• Low-emission supply chains: We work with suppliers to reduce the emissions associated with producing our vehicles, as well as ensure vehicles are shipped by rail and other forms of low emission transportation. 

As a partner to cities, Voi is increasing its ambition to help bring about data-driven climate action in support of the 1.5°C pathway and the halving of carbon emissions from mobility. Voi is doing this by pioneering awareness-raising initiatives directed at our users about the impact of mobility habits on climate change and empowering them to make climate-smart choices, supporting the 15-min movement, while continuing to further improve the integration of our service with public transport systems through partnerships.