Sustainable mobility in Africa offers new development pathways, says report

London, 29 October 2017: Earth Security Group has today launched a CEO Briefing: Automotive Industry in Africa, providing carmakers, financial institutions and policymakers a view of key Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) priorities for industry growth.

The Briefing highlights how Africa’s car market, which is the second fastest growing market for new vehicle sales in the world behind China, is currently vastly undermined by air pollution in Africa’s populous megacities and road traffic accidents, which kill more people than malaria. While the African automotive market remains significantly less developed than other developing regions, a number of factors, including rapid urbanisation, a growing middle class, and growing infrastructure investments, are now set to grow the market.
The Briefing recommends that sustainable mobility infrastructures, such as the electrification of mass public transit systems and ride-sharing schemes, offer new pathways for investment and growth that create a different path for development. Stronger market inter-connections, such as single network payment systems, would also enable leveraging a tighter connectivity between transport options.

It also highlights how the car industry should work with African governments to bring vehicle and fuel standards up to date, as part of their commercial strategy (not just climate commitments), as these are setting back automakers’ fuel-efficient models. A collaboration between African automotive associations and governments should chart the roadmap for countries to leapfrog to electric vehicles (EVs) as the continent has done with mobile phones.

Earth Security Group CEO, Alejandro Litovsky, noted, “We want to highlight how moving the industry in line with SDGs can not only secure future prosperity of car manufacturing in Africa, but also tackle priorities on the continent such as youth unemployment, skills gaps and health priorities such as road safety and air pollution.”

The use and value of the report was outlined by its key supporters; Zoe Knight, Group Head, HSBC Centre of Sustainable Finance HSBC commented “This report’s clear and powerful analysis sets out both how to integrate ESG issues strategically and how to focus
on SDG impacts that are material to economic growth. Crucially for SDG implementation, the Earth Security Group has created a framework, which translates the aims set out by the goals into tangible metrics for corporates and investors.”

For more information on the CEO Briefing, and to download a copy visit earthsecuritygroup.com/strategy-briefs/ceo-briefing-automotive-industry-africa

This brief is part of our Earth Security Report 2017. Download the full report from earthsecuritygroup.com

Earth Security Group are advisors helping companies, investors and governments to create a strategic and progressive response to global resource security challenges. Their mission is to align the growth of companies with the sustainable development priorities of the countries on which they depend.

Earth Security Group
22 Upper Ground, London, SE1 9PD, UK

Claire Poole
Claire@earthsecuritygroup.com

This release was published on openPR.