Editor’s choice
SEI’s transport research supports a fair, inclusive, and low-emission mobility transition by bridging global insights with local realities. Through interdisciplinary expertise and partnerships worldwide, we co-create actionable solutions for equitable, sustainable transport systems.
Photo: Getty Images / peeterv.
2025–2026
The transport sector is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 16% of global emissions in 2023. Reaching global climate targets demands a 90% reduction in transport-related CO₂ emissions by 2050. Yet, efforts to decarbonize are constrained by insufficient climate financing, receiving about 26% of it, with only 3% for least developed countries, and 15% to emerging markets excluding China.
At SEI, we believe that sustainable transport must be just, inclusive and resilient. We work at multiple governance scales, from the local to the global, to support a fair and effective transition to low-emission mobility systems that support improved health and wellbeing.
SEI’s transport research draws on a broad, interdisciplinary foundation that integrates insights from transport planning, behavioural science, and emissions modelling with themes such as just transitions, social inclusion, and emerging technologies like e-mobility and biofuels. Our comparative strength lies in delivering human-centred, justice-driven research that links big-picture goals with place-based realities.
Working across all continents, and Europe, our global team collaborates closely with governments, civil society, and communities to co-create actionable knowledge, from planning through to implementation.
We focus on three key thematic research areas:
Ensure all communities, especially marginalized, low-income and rural, can access affordable, inclusive, sustainable services.
2. Sustainable transport systems: modal shifts and integration
Promote public transport, shared mobility and active modes to reduce private-car dependence.
3. Transport modelling for policy and planning
Develop advanced, climate-resilient transport models and scenario analyses to guide policy and infrastructure decisions.
Feature / Learn how SEI works with partners to improve inclusive transportation in Africa.
28 June 2024 / About Climate services and Transport
Feature / A wide slate of new features makes LEAP easier to use and more comprehensive than ever for energy modelling, policymaking and research.
22 July 2024 / About Energy access, Household energy, Planning and modelling, Pollution and Public policy
Feature / SEI’s project transformed a transit hub in Indonesia through community design, offering a replicable model for inclusive urban renewal.
24 April 2025 / About Adaptation, Cities, Innovation, Participation and Transport
Feature / Workshop participants tested a new tool for planning strategies to reduce emissions, improve air quality and promote sustainable mobility across Indonesia.
7 September 2024 / About Planning and modelling and Transport
Feature / SEI’s Björn Nykvist has been named the 2025 awardee for his leadership in sustainable transport research.
27 June 2025 / About Transport
Perspective / Discover Europe's move towards green transportation with the AFIR, enabling wider electric vehicle use through infrastructural advances.
26 June 2023 / About Climate policy and Transport
Feature / Learn how SEI’s guide is aiding companies in pinpointing and curbing their air pollution footprint.
29 November 2023 / About Business, Cities, Pollution, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Feature / SEI and Bogotá’s environment agency are collaborating on an approach to reduce black carbon.
24 January 2024 / About Cities, Pollution, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Feature / Non-traditional urban planning tools – think art and poetry – underpin new ways of co-designing city infrastructure to address health and mobility issues.
Perspective / How is the war on Iran impacting affecting energy and transport systems around the world? In this analysis, SEI regional experts give their verdict.
23 April 2026 / About Fossil fuels, Renewables and Transport
Perspective / The Spanish blackout shows Europe’s energy transition needs urgent grid investment, smarter technology and stronger resilience to avoid future failures.
2 May 2025 / About Disaster risk, Innovation, Planning and modelling, Public policy and Renewables
Perspective / Insights from the JUSTIT project highlight the critical balance between environmental goals and workers' rights in Sweden.
12 February 2024 / About Innovation, Participation, Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Perspective / This perspective highlights three major solutions to address the challenges faced by low-income and vulnerable transport users in African cities.
1 September 2021 / About Adaptation, Behaviour and choice, Cities, Disaster risk, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Perspective / Our project shines a spotlight on the potential of passenger cars, public transport and active mobility to help reduce Sweden’s transport emissions equitably.
31 May 2023 / About Climate policy and Transport
Perspective / Current public procurement practices will not put the EU on track to meet its climate goals.
29 March 2023 / About Climate policy, Finance and Transport
Perspective / SEI's Anderson Kehbila speaks about Kenya's power sector and the country's efforts in reducing carbon emissions.
23 October 2023 / About Renewables
Perspective / Discover Europe's move towards green transportation with the AFIR, enabling wider electric vehicle use through infrastructural advances.
26 June 2023 / About Climate policy and Transport
Perspective / Jenniffer Pedraza explores how clean air pledges must be backed by action, collaboration and investment to deliver real health and equity gains.
7 April 2025 / About Pollution, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Perspective / Global climate action can be won or lost in intermediate-sized cities. SEI experts offer insights on transport policy changes that can drive a greener future.
5 January 2026 / About Cities
Perspective / SEI calls for a just, human-centred transport transition as COP30 launches the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport.
14 November 2025 / About Climate policy, Fossil fuels, Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Collection / This visual series explores how everyday journeys reveal inequality, access and belonging in cities.
About Behaviour and choice, Cities, Participation, Public policy and Transport
Journal article / This article systematically reviews global research on electric vehicle charging infrastructure demand.
10 June 2025 / About Energy access and Transport
Journal article / The study explores how electrification, digitalization, and automation affect truck and taxi drivers’ work life, urging inclusion of drivers’ views in policy.
7 February 2025 / About Transport
Journal article / The authors seek to provide a better understanding of how transportation relates to what individuals value for their quality of life.
SEI brief / This brief provides insights from a case study to help boost active travel in key cities in Indonesia.
Other publication / This guidance document summarizes key concepts around transport inclusion, participation, and climate change and provides novel tools for increasing engagement.
24 November 2022 / About Adaptation, Cities, Climate policy, Disaster risk, Participation, Short lived climate pollutants and Wellbeing
Other publication / Understanding the challenges of inclusivity and climate resilience in transport planning in Africa: results of a needs assessment in 4 countries.
26 May 2021 / About Cities, Public policy, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
SEI brief / This policy brief provides guidance intended to help Indonesia secure adequate funding to underpin sustainable and inclusive low-carbon transportation options.
Journal article / This study examines progress on battery electric vehicles (BEVs), including where long-range BEVs can be produced at similar costs to conventional cars.
29 October 2018 / About Transport
Journal article / It is important to understand the lower boundary of battery costs for modelling long-term global energy transitions in the transition to electric vehicles.
11 September 2018 / About Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Journal article / Equitable mobility requires more than infrastructure provision: examining users' overall journey experience provides more constructive insights.
17 July 2025 / About Cities, Public policy and Transport
SEI brief / Electric vehicle (EV) sales are rising; charging infrastructure will be key to successful integration in fossil free transport.
9 June 2022 / About Behaviour and choice, Fossil fuels and Transport
SEI brief / Precise calculations of the carbon emissions and air pollution linked to a commodity shipment by sea are now possible with a new data-driven methodology.
4 April 2019 / About Climate policy, Pollution and Supply chains
Journal article / Integration of the needs of various groups is essential when aiming to achieve environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable mobility in rural areas.
12 April 2022 / About Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Journal article / This paper analyses the challenges and complexities surrounding durable solutions for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Tacloban City, Philippines.
17 January 2024 / About Disaster risk
SEI brief / Technology and climate mitigation are driving a transformation in road freight. The brief sets out the benefits and challenges for sustainability in the sector.
30 January 2023 / About Climate policy, Mitigation and Transport
Collection / This visual series explores how everyday journeys reveal inequality, access and belonging in cities.
About Behaviour and choice, Cities, Participation, Public policy and Transport
Perspective / How is the war on Iran impacting affecting energy and transport systems around the world? In this analysis, SEI regional experts give their verdict.
23 April 2026 / About Fossil fuels, Renewables and Transport
Project / This project uses mathematical modelling tools and techniques to enable local stakeholders to make equitable transportation planning decisions.
2025 / About Cities, Participation, Pollution, Public policy, Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Project / This project models transport impacts to help mid-sized Latin American cities make cleaner, healthier urban planning decisions.
2025 / About Mitigation and Transport
Project / The project boosts public–private collaboration to deliver inclusive climate and clean air transport initiatives in Nigeria.
2025 - 2026 / About Cities, Participation, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Project / Meeting the mobility needs of disadvantaged groups in a changing climate.
2020 - 2022 / About Behaviour and choice, Cities, Climate policy, Participation, Pollution and Transport
Project / This project seeks to understand tensions in future consumption patterns in Sweden to ensure a fair transition to a fossil-free welfare society.
2019 - 2024 / About Behaviour and choice, Climate policy, Fossil fuels, Participation and Sustainable lifestyles
Project / Applying SPT, SEI will analyze the complex interactions of Bogota’s urban transport practices in order to explore possibilities for intervention.
2020 - 2021 / About Cities, Pollution, Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Project / Accelerating low carbon transport policies and plans that meet the mobility needs of marginalized groups in Indonesia.
2022 - 2025 / About Cities, Participation, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Project / Understanding health and wellbeing impacts of mobility and co-designing mobility infrastructure improvements.
2020 / About Cities, Participation and Transport
Project / The JUSTIT project assesses the impact of low-carbon transition on transport workers in Sweden to inform the design of just transition policies and strategies.
2020 - 2025 / About Fossil fuels, Public policy and Transport
Project / The project aims to provide technical support, a policy pathway and implementation roadmap towards sustainable and low-carbon transportation in Thailand.
2024 - 2026 / About Cities, Climate policy and Transport
Tool / Unlock inclusive urban mobility with the Digital Mapping Toolkit, designed for participatory planning and equitable transport solutions.
About Participation, Planning and modelling and Transport
Initiative / This initiative investigates how rapidly growing cities affect residents' wellbeing and how this interacts with the overall health of city systems.
2018 - 2023 / About Cities, Innovation, Participation, Pollution, Sustainable Development Goals, Transport and Wellbeing
Project / SEI Tallinn analyses the necessary measures in Estonia to reduce the vulnerability of people and businesses in transitioning to a climate-neutral economy.
2024 / About Climate policy, Energy access and Finance
Project / Programmi "Ohutu koolitee" eesmärk on muuta turvalisemaks Tallinna koolide ümbrused, innustamaks lapsi liikuma jala, rattaga või ühistranspordiga.
2024 / About Cities, Participation, Sustainable Development Goals and Wellbeing
Project / This project examines strategies to enhance the resilience of public transport amid the shift to new technologies and evolving user behaviours.
2024 - 2027 / About Public policy and Transport
Project / SEI will conduct an evidence synthesis from Swedish and international studies on varying charging infrastructure needs across different vehicles and users.
2023 / About Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Project / The project studies the challenge of reaching fossil-fuel-free freight transport in the Swedish forest sector.
2019 - 2020 / About Forests, Fossil fuels and Transport
Project / The University of York SEI Centre implements customized capacity-building programs on active mobility in African transport structures on the HVT project.
2023 - 2024 / About Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
Project / 15-minute cities propose urban redesigns aiming to cut carbon emissions and improve quality of life.
2024 / About Cities, Sustainable lifestyles, Transport and Wellbeing
Project / The project incorporates SLCPs and other air pollutants into the GLEC Framework on emissions tracking for businesses.
2024 - 2025 / About Cities, Pollution, Short lived climate pollutants and Transport
Tool / The Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) is a powerful, versatile system for energy planning and climate change mitigation assessment.
About Climate policy, Energy access, Planning and modelling and Pollution
Perspective / Global climate action can be won or lost in intermediate-sized cities. SEI experts offer insights on transport policy changes that can drive a greener future.
5 January 2026 / About Cities
Perspective / SEI calls for a just, human-centred transport transition as COP30 launches the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport.
14 November 2025 / About Climate policy, Fossil fuels, Sustainable lifestyles and Transport
SEI’s Howard Cambridge interviews Daniel Mwamba, Founder and Chairman of Zambia Road Safety Trust. Daniel discusses how different creative methods were used to engage local road users at a major junction in Lusaka, Zambia. He describes their reaction to these approaches and how the City Council also appreciated how they were used in connecting vulnerable people.
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Perspective / Global climate action can be won or lost in intermediate-sized cities. SEI experts offer insights on transport policy changes that can drive a greener future.
5 January 2026 / About Cities
Meet SEI / SEI lead researcher Cassilde Muhoza shares her work on and vision for Africa's cities.
9 June 2026 / About Cities and Planning and modelling
SEI report / This document offers a snapshot of the electric transmission sector in Colombia as of 2025.
4 June 2026 / About Energy access, Planning and modelling and Renewables