Carbon-washing sustainable mobility: the case of Metro Mondego in Coimbra, Portugal

Source abstract

Cities and urban transportation in particular are increasingly viewed as key arenas for sustainability and climate action. However, ‘sustainable’ and ‘carbon-neutral’ measures often emphasize technological solutions, emissions reductions and economic growth, while often failing to confront the wider mobility crisis, and often exacerbating social injustices. In this article, we extend the emerging concept of "carbon-washing", applied to corporate advertisement, to the analysis of government strategies in urban climate and mobility planning. Through a case study of the electric Metro Mondego Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Coimbra, Portugal, we show how the municipal government and the public BRT corporation used sustainable mobility, urban greening and carbon emissions reduction discourses to conceal the project's significant environmental impacts on urban greenspaces, secure funding, and add new layers of legitimacy beyond the worn-out sustainability narrative. Our study thus suggests how sustainable mobility megaprojects can simultaneously advance climate narratives while reproducing car-centric urbanism, undemocratic planning, and socioecological harm. Furthermore, it documents how critical social movement voices can confront these projects and their impacts, generating alternative planning knowledge that exposes and contests carbon-washing practices and offer alternative strategies for more democratic, just and sustainable mobility interventions.