Sustainability Workshop Explores Pathways to Cleaner, Smarter and People-Focused Transport
National Future Transport Summit Consultation
Sustainability workshop explores pathways to cleaner, smarter, and people-focused transport
The fourth consultation workshop for the National Future Transport Summit was held on 3 July 2025, attracting attendees from across government, industry and research to be part of the discussion on how connected and automated technologies can contribute to sustainable transport future for Australia.
Opening the session, Brook Hall, Executive Director of the Centre for Connected and Automated Transport (CCAT), emphasised that sustainability in transport goes beyond reducing emissions, it is central to shaping cleaner, healthier, and more efficient communities. He framed the session as an opportunity to explore how automation, electrification and connectivity can be aligned to support national decarbonisation and environmental resilience goals.
Sustainability through Technology, Policy and People
Susan Harris, CEO of ITS Australia, delivered the opening expert address. She outlined the growing emissions from Australia’s transport sector and the urgent need to integrate sustainability into freight, passenger transport, and infrastructure planning.
Susan highlighted:
The opportunity for smarter freight via digital tools, route optimisation and off-peak travel.
The importance of influencing travel behaviour through integrated, sustainable mobility options.
The often-overlooked role of infrastructure in sustainability, calling for better use of real-time data, AI and optimisation tools rather than defaulting to expensive (and emission heavy) new construction.
Susan underscored the need for national leadership, harmonised data systems and policy settings that align with technological advancements and behaviour change.
Decarbonising heavy vehicles: practical solutions for a complex challenge
Dr Adele Lausberg, Chief Advocacy Officer at Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA), discussed the unique challenge of decarbonising heavy vehicles. In particular noting that the largest trucks that operate nationally make up 20% of the fleet but are responsible for 80% of emissions. Adele noted:
The barriers faced by small operators, including high upfront costs, ageing fleet and inconsistent policy settings.
The need for technology-neutral solutions, government incentives, consistent regulation and strategic investment in charging and refuelling infrastructure.
The role of connectivity and incremental improvements, such as emerging prevalence of connected infrastructure and advanced driver assistance technologies found in modern vehicles, in reducing emissions now.
Despite the challenges, Adele highlighted industry willingness to innovate, and pointed to the potential of automation and custom-built solutions.
Designing sustainable streets: from carbon to community
Ben Haddock, Transport Planning Lead at Arup, urged a broader definition of sustainability. He stressed that sustainable transport must support equity, nature and liveability, not just carbon reduction.
Ben advocated for:
Rethinking transport from vehicle movement to place-making, focused on people and communities.
A transition from ownership models to shared mobility services.
Incremental infrastructure change, embedding digital, active and green elements into existing streetscapes.
He concluded with a call for collaboration and systems thinking, warning against quick fixes and urging long-term alignment between policy, technology and community needs.
Key issues and challenges
Brook Hall summarised the four major sustainability challenges identified in the Summit Discussion Paper:
Rising risk of increased vehicle travel and energy use due to automation.
Lack of strategic integration between decarbonisation and emerging technologies.
Uncertainty in the interplay between electrification and automation.
Difficulty in decarbonising heavy vehicles, where full electrification isn’t always viable.
Participants prioritised these through a live poll, with results feeding into the national consultation.
Q&A Discussion
During the interactive Q&A session, participants explored practical strategies and policy levers to advance sustainability in transport:
Public Investment Priorities:
There was strong support for targeted government incentives that take a broad, technology-neutral approach—supporting not only vehicles, but also enabling infrastructure, connectivity and operator innovation. Many participants emphasised the importance of national coordination and consistent guidance across jurisdictions. Others highlighted the need to significantly increase investment in active transport and reform infrastructure funding frameworks to better account for sustainability, equity and community health outcomes.
Managing Automation and Avoiding Unintended Impacts:
Participants expressed concern about the potential for automated vehicles (AVs) to increase empty vehicle travel, particularly in private-use models. It was widely agreed that automation should be prioritised in freight and public transport, where the sustainability and safety benefits are clearer. Experiences from other automated sectors were referenced to show how shared and efficient models can be achieved with the right planning and policy settings.
Designing Streets for People and Technology:
The discussion acknowledged the tension between inclusive, people-focused street design and the safety requirements of automated vehicles. There was strong support for an incremental transition, backed by global collaboration to share lessons on integrating automated vehicles into multimodal, human-centred transport environments.
Stimulating Private Sector Engagement:
Co-investment models and early partnership initiatives were identified as important tools for encouraging private sector involvement in heavy vehicle sustainability projects. Participants noted that industry interest is growing, particularly where frameworks offer regulatory certainty and shared long-term investment opportunities.
Promising use cases for connected and automated technologies:
Several practical applications were highlighted as ‘low-hanging fruit’, including real-time traffic management, AI-powered congestion response and the use of connected data to optimise network performance. These use cases were seen as offering immediate benefits in terms of emissions reduction, safety and improved transport system efficiency.
Next Steps
This workshop forms part of the national consultation process feeding into the National Future Transport Summit, to be held on 17–18 September at Brisbane City Hall. Insights from the workshop, including participant feedback, polling results and Q&A, will shape draft recommendations for the Summit.
Written submissions are open until 25 July.
Submissions may address overarching issues or any of the five Summit themes: safety, sustainability, productivity, infrastructure and social legitimacy. Submissions can respond to the questions in the Discussion Paper or provide broader or more specific perspectives relevant to respondent’s sector, community or organisation.
All submissions will be published on the Summit website and recognised in the final Summit report.
To read the Discussion Paper, register for remaining workshop or make a submission, visit:www.ccat.org.au/summit
