Portuguese Institutions and Business Leaders Share their Vision at Global Mobility Call

Institutional representatives and business leaders from Portugal have shared their outlook on the development of sustainable mobility, in line with the goals of Global Mobility Call 2022. The conference was presented in Lisbon on Thursday with the aim of expanding its network of partnerships with international entities linked to the sector.

The presentation took place at the Residence of the Spanish Ambassador to Portugal, a country that has made significant progress on transformational mobility initiatives, in areas such as digitalisation, smart cities, sustainability in rural areas as well as actions and events that promote sustainable development.

Global Mobility Call, a major initiative organised by IFEMA MADRID and Smobhub with the support from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of Spain, will take place on 14-16 June in Madrid. It will bring together more than 7,000 international leaders in their respective sectors, aiming to boost policies and initiatives focusing on sustainable mobility. The gathering will foster investments in new projects at this key moment, ushering the deep transformation required for and economic and social recovery following the pandemic.

The event was opened by Juan Francisco Montalbán Carrasco, Deputy Head of Mission at the Spanish Embassy in Portugal; and Eduardo López-Puertas, Director General of IFEMA MADRID. After the presentation, there was a round table discussing the topic ‘Sustainable mobility: kickstarting the green recovery’. Taking part in the discussion were Sofia Tenreiro, energy investor and expert; António Pires Lima, CEO of Brisa; João Ricardo Moreira, Board Member at NOS; António Oliveira Martins, General Director of LeasePlan; Carlos Barbosa, President of the Automobile Club of Portugal; and Miguel Eiras Antunes, Smart Cities & Urban Transformation Global Leader, from Deloitte.

The General Director of IFEMA MADRID, Eduardo López-Puertas, stressed the need for joint leadership in sustainable mobility, and therefore invited the Portuguese business sector to participate in Global Mobility Call, which is a business opportunity in an ecosystem that will benefit from NextGenerationEU funds in the midst of recovery plans that will accelerate sustainable mobility.

"Global Mobility Call spurs the international business sector to come together to strengthen professional networks, to find partners for new projects, to find ideas for new projects, to create the possibility of developing new technologies, new business models and new value chains," he said.

Juan Francisco Montalbán Carrasco, Deputy Head of Mission at the Spanish Embassy in Portugal, pointed out that events such as Global Mobility Call help to position the Iberian Peninsula as a suitable location for new economic, logistics and industrial sectors’ initiatives. "We have a top-level automotive industry in Europe, high capacity in renewable energies, advanced Mediterranean and Atlantic corridors and also lithium companies", he added.

Lisbon is making great strides in digitalisation, as shown by the organisation of events such as Web Summit. It is also forging ahead in mobility, with projects such as MOVELETUR, for sustainable tourism and electric mobility in natural spaces, the construction of the first electric charging network, and the RENER network smart cities project for sustainable mobility, integrating 46 cities with the aim of sharing know-how in search of innovative solutions and reinventing urban spaces – a project with close ties to Spain.

Presentation of Global Mobility Call at the Residence of the Spanish Ambassador to Portugal in Lisbon. 

Sonia Tenreiro, investor and energy expert, underlined the importance of initiatives that are committed to modern and sustainable mobility, based on technological platforms connected to smart city strategies. "The integration of these modern mobility platforms with existing systems in smart cities exponentially boosts their results and impact by using data and Artificial Intelligence to improve scenarios, efficiencies and anticipate mobility challenges," she added.

António Pires Lima, CEO of Brisa, expressed that the important thing about the transition to more sustainable mobility is how decisive this is for the lives of people and future generations. "Private companies and the public sector can cooperate to accelerate this transition. The key is the behaviour of users and people, but also how we engage together to make this transition faster on behalf of future generations.”

João Ricardo Moreira, Board Member at NOS, commented that Portuguese companies share the concern of further developing a sustainability agenda and that they are open to learn from the experiences of other sectors in Portugal. "The result of this debate is that we are aligned in the urgency and that the need to move forward on the sustainability agenda".

Antonio Oliveira Martins, CEO of LeasePlan Portugal, reminded that the transition to electric mobility is an essential step to reduce emissions. "We are committed to playing a leading role in the transition from internal combustion engines to electric motors. As a founding member of EV100, LeasePlan has taken on the ambitious goal of achieving net-zero emissions in our fleet by 2030".

"Mobility starts at the door of each of our homes and that is the premise with which the Automobile Club of Portugal works every day to make mobility increasingly sustainable and safe," said Carlos Barbosa, President of the Automobile Club of Portugal (ACP).

For Miguel Eiras Antunes, Smart Cities & Urban Transformation Global Leader at Deloitte, cities face increasing challenges, such a population growth, and this puts extra pressure on the transport systems. In this context, "mobility must be sustainable, digital, autonomous and multimodal", which is why Deloitte plans to "contribute to the construction of smart mobility systems and services to prepare our cities for the challenges of the future".

The presentation of Global Mobility Call in Lisbon followed its launch in Madrid last July and showcasing events at COP26 in Glasgow, Paris in December and Expo 2020 Dubai in January. Further international presentations will take place in other European cities in the coming weeks.