In our densely packed urban centres, transport is the backbone of the economy and everyday life, but it needs to become more efficient, sustainable, and inclusive.
The world's growing population is migrating to so-called "megacities", urban centres with over ten million inhabitants. The continuing exodus from rural areas means that economic and financial power is becoming more concentrated in cities. This increasing urbanisation also means that more people are living closer together, causing changes in labour markets and social interaction.
At the heart of this trend is mobility. Transport systems connect people with jobs, education, healthcare, and markets. But the more cities grow, the greater the strain on existing transport systems. The result is more traffic jams, noise, and air pollution, leading to vast amounts of lost time, lower productivity, and poor health.
This makes the development of new, more sustainable transport solutions one of the central challenges of our era. Urbanisation can only be successful and liveable in the long term if mobility becomes more efficient, sustainable, and inclusive.
Some ideas are already well known. Public transport metro and tram lines (light rail) are once again expanding around the world, an effort aimed at reducing traffic and pollution. Private electric vehicles (EVs), expected to dominate global car sales by 2035, with sales of combustion engine cars shrinking to just 5 % of the market, can significantly reduce emissions and, depending on the electricity mix and production methods, can lower lifecycle carbon emissions compared to combustion engine cars. And now multimodal and shared mobility solutions are offering new ways for people to navigate dense urban areas without increasing the strain on transport infrastructures.
Recognising that transport is key to everyday life, particularly from the perspective of sustainability, in December 2025 the member states of the United Nations proclaimed the 'Decade of Sustainable Transport 2026-2035'. This initiative acknowledges the fact that likely hardly any of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved without modern, efficient, and lower-emission transport solutions.
Dr Tilman Dumrese is a Senior Equity Specialist at LGT, focusing on sustainability topics and the healthcare, consumer discretionary, and chemicals sectors. He holds a doctorate in immunology and worked internationally at renowned research institutes during and after his academic training in Germany and the US.
For instance, improving air quality can make a decisive contribution to achieving SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) by reducing the health impacts of air pollution. At the same time, promoting safe, accessible, and affordable public transport for all, while reducing congestion and emissions, is a crucial step towards implementing SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
Sustainable mobility is therefore not only a field of action in its own right, but also a key factor in the success of the overall global sustainability agenda.
Just over 40 % of the global population lived in cities in 1985. Today 54 % do, and this figure is expected to rise to around 65 % by 2050. The dynamics of rural exodus become even clearer when looking at megacities. There were just eight in 1975, but 33 in 2025. During this time, the percentage of the world's population living in these huge conurbations rose from just under 3 % to almost 8 %.
It isn't only the growth of megacities that is important, it's also the density. While Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world, has a population density of 4,600 inhabitants per km², Mumbai is home to 24,000 inhabitants per km², and Dhaka houses 31,000 inhabitants per km².
Megacities are already paying the price for poor mobility.
This density results in heavily congested roads and endless traffic jams. In 2024, motorists lost an average of 105 hours a year in Istanbul, closely followed by Chicago and New York, where people sat in their cars for an additional 102 hours a year.
And it isn't just time lost. Congestion also causes air pollution, the second biggest global risk factor for death. More than 96 million people live in the five most polluted cities in the world. The residents of Delhi are particularly exposed to high concentrations of particulate matter, a leading cause of health problems.
But while the current switch from combustion engine cars to electric vehicles is important, it isn't just exhaust gases and greenhouse emissions that cause air pollution. Tyre and brake wear release significant amounts of particulate matter into the atmosphere, regardless of the drive technology.
It's also far from certain that EVs will reach the market penetration predicted for 2030. A prerequisite for success is sufficient availability of charging stations, especially those offering fast charging speeds. Current predictions suggest that the number of charging points will need to rise from the 3.2 million available worldwide in 2023, to 15 million in 2030. Encouragingly, over 40 % of the charging points available in 2023 already supplied fast charging. Given the high number of pending patent applications in the field of charging technology, particularly in China, further and faster developments are expected. As previously mentioned, it's also important to consider the electricity mix used and the conditions under which the vehicles are produced.
A more complex, though perhaps more effective approach to megacity mobility, will be the development of shared and multimodal transport solutions. The aim is to intelligently link different modes of transport, from walking and public transport to (e-)bikes and car- and ride-sharing services. Digital platforms and so-called Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions make it possible to seamlessly plan, book, and pay for routes across different modes of transport. This networked mobility can reduce travel times and emissions, increase the effectiveness of public transport, and create an alternative to private cars, which can also relieve traffic congestion, particularly when services are widely adopted and well-integrated.
Current estimates compiled by Statista predict a growth rate of 2.9 % for the shared mobility market worldwide. This would equate to a market volume of USD 1 trillion by 2029, excluding air travel, representing a potential investment opportunity.
Market growth in this area is primarily driven by increasing the number of people who use these services. This will also be crucial for improving the congestion situation in megacities. The number of users is expected to rise to 6.23 billion by 2029, corresponding to 73 % of the world's population at that time.
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Investors would be well-advised to keep an eye on industries that support the continued development of charging infrastructure, EV components like batteries, and shared mobility service platforms, while also carefully considering the associated environmental and social impacts along their respective value chains.
The rapid growth of EV mobility, combined with already high market penetration in the shared mobility sector, gives us reason to hope that the quality of life in conurbations and in the growing number of megacities could improve significantly in future. In addition, technologies like autonomous driving, in conjunction with intelligent, data-based traffic control, are likely to further support this positive trend, if deployed at scale and to the benefit of city-dwellers.
