Enabling Citizen Sustainable Behaviors in Urban Mobility through Blockchain and Tokenization

The automotive industry is one of the major contributors to urban mobility, with issues such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and parking shortages being significant challenges for city planners and policymakers. This is causing a significant contribution to carbon emissions, contributing to climate change and environmental degradation. Traditional incentive systems aiming at preserving, such as subsidies and penalties, have shown limited effectiveness in changing user behavior. Therefore, innovative approaches based on citizen participation through the promotion of virtuous behavior can be effective, and among them, tokenization and blockchain-based incentive systems have emerged as potential solutions. Tokenization refers to the process of creating a digital token that represents a physical asset or a specific service. By tokenizing mobility services, such as car-sharing or ride-sharing, users can earn tokens for virtuous behaviors, such as reducing carbon emissions, using electric vehicles, or choosing sustainable transport options. These tokens can then be exchanged for discounts, rewards, or other benefits, encouraging users to adopt more sustainable travel practices. Blockchain technology can enable the secure management and exchange of tokens, ensuring the transparency and immutability of the incentive system. By utilizing blockchain technology, the tokenization of mobility services can provide a decentralized and secure platform for users to earn and exchange tokens, eliminating the need for a centralized authority. This model has also been proposed in different topics related to climate change, such as for carbon credits. By using blockchain technology, carbon credits can be tokenized, allowing for transparent and secure management and exchange. Users can earn carbon credits for virtuous behaviors, such as using electric vehicles or choosing sustainable transport options. These credits can then be traded on a blockchain-based platform, creating a decentralized marketplace. In this book chapter, we analyze the potential benefits and challenges of using blockchain technology and tokenization in incentivizing virtuous behaviors in urban mobility, with a focus on the automotive industry. We explore the technical requirements and considerations for implementing a blockchain-based incentive system in the automotive industry and evaluate the potential impact on user behavior, sustainability, and urban mobility, discussing at the same time the regulatory and policy implications.