Artificial Intelligence Towards Smart Green Transportation: A Path Towards Sustainability

Introduction To Sustainability

The concept of sustainability gained more emphasis through the development of the world commission on Environment and Development in 1987. The report popularly known as the Brundtland Report highlighted the environmental issues globally as the cause of poverty in many underdeveloped nations. In the 1960s, the concept of sustainability started gaining more importance. The reason for this is a high increase in population, overutilization of resources, and an increase in pollution (Shiva, 1992). The core theme of sustainability is to develop a plan which allows humans to utilize natural resources by safeguarding them for future generations (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). It is also explained as the process of distributing social and economic wealth keeping the environment in mind (Lumley & Armstrong, 2004). The sustainable plan is evolved based on the evaluation of the present and future conditions and repercussions of human activities on the generations (Vogt & Weber, 2019). In the mid-eighteenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth century, conservation, equality, and social and environmental justice gained prominence. Many concerns were raised and the experts realized the importance of integration in the policies for local, state, and national development (Lumley & Armstrong, 2004). The United Nations also addressed the environmental concerns in the conference conducted in Stockholm. And also, some of the general principles were initiated to overcome the environmental problems due to unsustainable development. During that phase, sustainable development gained more focus and started considering the transportation sector (Barbosa et al., 2014). Sustainable development is mainly about inculcating eco-friendly practices in every stage of the product life cycle.

Sustainability focuses mainly on three factors. They are economic, social, and environmental. Various research studies have interpreted these factors differently. Some of the studies have discussed these three factors as the pillars of sustainability. Whereas, other researchers have interpreted social, environmental, and economic as intersecting points and as a coextensive approach (Purvis et al., 2018). The organization has a major role in the sustainable development domain to maintain consistency between environmental, economic, and social factors (Swarbrooke, 1999). Environmental sustainability mainly focuses on the balance between ecology and biology. It also emphasizes the protection of flora and fauna and creates environmental behavior. Similarly, social sustainability works on the improvisation of human life. Here, it focuses on gender equality, fair distribution of basic human needs between generations, cultural enhancement, and community development. On the other hand, economic sustainability strives to generate income by offering products and services which are eco-friendly. The economic dimension boosts the economy of the country without surpassing the environmental and cultural activities (Herremans & Reid, 2002).

According to recent studies, it is claimed that the transport industry is one of the major air pollutants. It has significantly contributed to carbon emissions due to the non-renewable energy usage in transport. This has led to serious issues in damaging the global system. Many prominent authors have recommended incorporating sustainability and green mode of transport to overcome the issues caused due to conventional transportation systems (Larina et al., 2021). The transportation industry is rigorously working on the transformation of the entire system into a more eco-friendly manner. However, studies have highlighted that most developing countries are still following unsustainable modes of transportation.