< Back to Insights page

Achieving Carbon Neutrality through Traffic Emission Dashboard: A Collaborative Endeavor by the City of Vaasa and Ramboll 

Author: Teemu Sihvola

Road transport accounts for almost a fifth of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions and stands as the primary cause of air pollution in urban areas. However, achieving reductions in traffic emissions is not easy. The City of Vaasa and Ramboll Finland have developed a Traffic Emission Dashboard to monitor road traffic emissions and test the impact of corrective measures.

Achieving Emission Goals is Challenging 

Transport contributes nearly a quarter of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions, with road transport responsible for the majority. Achieving climate neutrality in cities requires diverse actions, including adopting low-emission energy alternatives for transport, implementing low- and zero-emission vehicles, and improving the efficiency of transport systems. Digital mobility solutions, optimized pricing strategies, and promoting multi-modality are key to optimizing transport systems and reducing emissions. 

The challenge for cities lies in identifying the most effective measures and ensuring that investments align with emission targets. The City of Vaasa, like many other European cities, aims to achieve carbon neutrality by the end of the 2020s. To support this goal, Vaasa co-developed a Traffic Emission Dashboard with Ramboll. This tool integrates strategic transport modeling with real-time traffic data, enabling the monitoring of traffic-based emissions and factors influencing them in relation to emission targets. 

As part of the project, five different scenarios for 2030 were modeled, including a Technology Development Scenario, a Sustainable Mobility Scenario, and a National Regulation Scenario. None of the scenarios alone achieved Vaasa's targets for road traffic emission reductions or carbon neutrality. Therefore, a combined scenario was developed, integrating measures from all previous scenarios. Even with this comprehensive approach, carbon neutrality remained unattainable. The targets were met only by further reducing per-unit vehicle emissions or significantly shifting transport modes towards sustainable alternatives. 

Methodology for monitoring traffic emissions 

The Traffic Emission Dashboard incorporates a hybrid transport model that combines Ramboll’s activity-based transport demand model, BRUTUS, with EMME, a traffic network software. BRUTUS simulates daily trips for individuals based on their preferences and socio-economic thresholds, while EMME connects travel demand forecasts with regional distribution matrices for traffic network analyses.

The dashboard retrieves real-time traffic data from various sources, including automatic traffic measurement points, license plate recognition, and public transport boardings via APIs. This data is stored in a cloud database. Regression models integrate the real-time data with hybrid transport model results, feeding into the dashboard implemented in Power BI. The dashboard displays traffic-based emissions, allowing users to view modeled and measured data at different aggregation levels. This supports strategic planning and helps monitor emission targets alongside the potential impact of corrective measures.

"Many cities have invested in real-time traffic data collection. This project found an application for such data directly addressing one of the most challenging goals: reducing traffic emissions," says Teemu Sihvola, Head of Ramboll Digital Mobility Lab. 

Application in Other Regions 

The developed methodology and dashboard enable strategic-level planning by allowing comparisons of different traffic and land-use scenarios through scenario analysis. This capability directs transport and land-use planning toward optimal options for climate and emission reduction. Additionally, the dashboard enables real-time monitoring of emission trends and the testing of corrective measures if realized emissions deviate from targets. This approach ensures that implemented measures lead to the realization of emission goals. 

The target audience includes municipal land-use and traffic planning experts, as well as decision-makers. However, the tool also serves to communicate road traffic emissions, trends, and influencing measures to residents, thereby engaging them in emission-reduction actions. Each vehicle passing through a traffic network calculation point contributes to the reported climate emissions, creating a tangible connection between individual behavior and overall emissions. 

The project's results are replicable at reasonable costs in regions with existing transport models covering all modes of transportation. The methodology can also be expanded to other municipalities or even scaled into a national greenhouse gas emissions calculator for Finland’s road network. Such an expansion could support coordinated, nationwide efforts to achieve climate goals.