What exactly do you mean by the term “mobility transition”?
Katja Diehl: In my view, the mobility transition in Germany has not yet taken place. If there were really to be a change, we would see a significant decline in registration numbers and the number of cars on the road – but the opposite is the case. In my opinion, electric cars, especially large SUVs with heavy batteries for long ranges, are the wrong approach. Fully electric vehicles do help us on the path to energy self-sufficiency, but many other problems remain. For me, the mobility transition means above all offering people freedom of choice: you can drive a car, but you don't have to. This requires well-developed cycle paths and an attractive rail service. Many people are unaware of their dependence on cars and do not question it, which I find worrying.
You put so much heart and soul into this cause. What drives you personally and why are you so intensely involved in this issue?
What drives me is a deep-rooted sense of justice. I simply cannot tolerate injustice, especially towards people who are often overlooked in terms of mobility, such as children, older people or people with disabilities. Current mobility policy, which primarily protects car manufacturing and its jobs, ignores these social imbalances. Many people who work in the car industry say that they don't care about the product they are working on as long as they have a good salary and a secure job. I find that difficult to understand. Why are the 900,000 jobs in car manufacturing given higher priority and weighting than the 5.3 million in care? The systemic importance of mobility is often underestimated. We need a different concept of the economy, one that is not based solely on growth and capitalism, but focuses on the common good and sustainability.
Are there any particular events that have influenced you in this regard?
What has had a particular impact on me is the daily toll of an average of eight traffic fatalities and a thousand injuries. These figures are often overlooked, while other, smaller individual cases receive more attention. Yet road traffic is one of the biggest causes of environmental pollution, health problems and even deaths. Particulate matter, heat islands and health effects such as asthma are direct consequences of traffic and primarily affect the most vulnerable members of our society. Many of those affected do not perceive this injustice because they are integrated into a system that determines their everyday lives. But this is precisely where we must start – injustice must be named in order to do something about it.
In your opinion, what is preventing us from achieving sustainable mobility? What is stopping us from actually implementing it?
A key obstacle is the strong lobbying of the automotive industry and its close ties to politics. A current example of this is that Volkswagen wants to continue selling cars with combustion engines, even though they had originally announced an earlier phase-out. The goal of selling cars for private use remains, while the idea of car sharing and alternative mobility solutions has once again been pushed into the background. The issue of jobs is also often exploited. While job losses in the automotive industry are emphasised, the importance of the 5.3 million jobs in the care sector is far less recognised. Politicians have failed to understand transport as part of a holistic climate protection plan. Instead, fossil fuel subsidies are being maintained, which makes the transition to sustainability in mobility more difficult.
What political measures are necessary to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from transport?
The coalition government has failed to abolish fossil fuel subsidies for cars. There are still numerous advantages to driving a combustion engine car, such as company car privileges, commuter allowances and diesel privileges. These incentives prevent many people from switching to electric vehicles. One example of an effective measure would be to offer company car subsidies exclusively for fully electric vehicles, as is already the case in Luxembourg. In addition, there needs to be more spatial justice in cities. This means that driving must be made less convenient, not through bans, but through better cycle paths and an attractive public transport infrastructure. When I cycle through Hamburg, I have hardly any dedicated cycle paths, even though as a citizen I have a right to safety under the Basic Law. However, I am denied this right simply because I choose to travel by bicycle instead of by car. The transport sector has failed to achieve emissions reduction, while other sectors such as the energy industry have already made great strides. It is time to push ahead with the transition to renewable energies and solutions for sustainability in the transport sector as well.
Your children's book is coming out in May. Tell us a little bit about it!
I've had the idea for the children's book since I became self-employed. When I presented it to publishers, I met with little understanding. Most of them wanted to suggest a hidden object book or colouring book, but my goal was to tell a story. It's about a child from the future who sees the present on a tablet and asks questions about the world that they don't understand. In the future, people live in a city with sustainability, community gardens, small-scale agriculture and no cars in front of their houses. The child wonders what garages were for and why people used to own so many cars. The book is intended to stimulate conversation among children and adults, especially about alternative mobility and our vision of the future. Info boxes in the book also explain topics such as soil sealing and climate impacts. I hope the book will encourage families to think about the mobility of tomorrow.
Do you have anyone in mind who would be a good fit for our interview series? Who would you recommend?
I can highly recommend Maren Urner. She is a neuroscientist and, in my opinion, has a unique ability to explain why people resist transformation. She makes it clear that fear is a state that prevents us from developing visions. Her explanations often focus on how our brains react to change and how we can overcome this mechanism. She has also shared her perspectives in several podcast episodes, and I think she could make a very valuable contribution to your interview series.
