Commissioner Bjerregaard questions sustainable mobility "Is there really no such a thing as sustainable mobility?" asked Ritt Bjerregaard, Commissioner for the Environment, during a speech in Berlin on 28 January on the occasion of the opening of the BMW Institute for Mobility Research. She underlined the European Union's commitme... "Is there really no such a thing as sustainable mobility?" asked Ritt Bjerregaard, Commissioner for the Environment, during a speech in Berlin on 28 January on the occasion of the opening of the BMW Institute for Mobility Research. She underlined the European Union's commitment to the concept of sustainable development, as laid down by the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam. A cornerstone of this concept is the integration of environmental concerns into all policy areas and into the decisions by all stakeholders in society. Transport is a key sector in this respect. The strongly growing volume of traffic causes both environmental problems and congestion. Both are forcing a new look at the concept of mobility, by technological means but also and particularly by non-technical means. Commissioner Bjerregaard said that the providers of transport need not suffer from this. She said they should take a proactive stance and see the opportunities, rather than the threats, that are implicit in such new approaches to mobility. The ultimate reason for mobility is accessibility. Researching the former can take us closer to the latter. That is why the Commission welcomed research on mobility, she said, and congratulated BMW on the decision to set up the institute, which illustrated commitment by the car industry to accept its social responsibility.
