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In an era where the need for sustainable mobility solutions has never been more urgent, Arval is delighted to announce its enthusiastic participation in the 2023 European Mobility Week. This year's theme, "Save Energy," resonates deeply with Arval’s duty and underscores the critical role the leasing and new mobility leader plays in shaping a more sustainable future.

The Business of Mobility is a series of articles featuring business leaders in sustainable mobility. Q&A with Ronan Perrier, Head of Arval Consulting & Arval Mobility Observatory and Ross Douglas, Founder at Autonomy.

Arval was founded in 1989 and is fully owned by BNP Paribas, the top bank in the European Union. Arval is a specialist in leasing and new mobility solutions and a European leader in multibrand vehicle leasing company. They employ 8,000 people and have 1.6 million vehicles in their fleets across 29 countries, with the aim of reaching 2 million by 2025. Arval have diversified their offering to ‘integrated mobility’, i.e. “balancing vehicle leasing with alternative forms of mobility such as car sharing, carpooling, bikes and electric scooters.”

Across much of Europe, we have made significant progress in terms of road safety over the past two decades – road traffic fatalities have fallen by two thirds since 2000. But the rate of improvement has stalled recently, with half of European countries even posting increased vehicle-related fatalities in 2021. In spite of vast improvements to vehicle safety, we are not yet on the trajectory set out by “Vision Zero” – the European Union’s aim to reduce Road Safety deaths by half through the end of 2030 and to zero by 2050.
Protecting human lives and livelihoods disproportionately contributes to economic and social gain. What’s more, improving road safety and reducing emissions are both clear commitments made within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.And it simply makes sense; it’s the humane thing to do.

This is why we felt it important to write this paper now – to reemphasize the urgency of this problem, highlight the key levers, and outline opportunities for improvement.

It’s often said that car subscription marks the birth of car usership after over a century of car ownership. But that’s not completely true. After all, car rental consists of using a car for a few days – and it was invented in the 1900s. And car leasing consists of using a car for a few years, and it’s been around since the 1930s.

In both cases, the car is usually provided inclusive of services (maintenance, insurance, tires, etc.) in exchange for a daily (rental) or monthly (leasing) fee. At the end of the agreed period, the customer returns the car to the rental or leasing company and has never owned the vehicle, just used it.

With the publication of its Sustainability Report 2022, Arval highlights how it is contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and progressing with the targets of Arval Beyond, its strategic plan for 2025. On this occasion, we ask Karen Brunot, Chief Sustainability Officer, about the company’s vision for shaping a better world, and find out how it is delivering on its objectives in terms of sustainability.

The next stop in our World Mobility Tour is to the city of Valladolid. Embarked on a city redesign process, participating in projects like "Connected Cities" and "Horizon Europe: One Hundred Climate-Neutral Smart Cities by 2030”, pioneer in traffic restrictions to preserve air quality, and in reducing the speed limit to 30 km/h in the city center before it was mandated by the Spanish traffic code; Valladolid is taking significant steps to become a sustainable mobility capital. Our discussion with Oscar Puente, the Mayor of the city, enables us to discover all the aspects and the strategy of this city regarding the mobility topic.

Mobility is not just about providing concrete solutions to move from point A to point B. It is also about acting with the entire ecosystem to reach a positive impact. That is Arval’s ambition with the BNP Paribas Group to support its clients in their mobility needs. Alain van Groenendael, Arval Chairman and CEO, expresses his views on this at the occasion of the Autonomy World Expo 2023, the international event bringing the world’s mobility makers together!

Our world is getting ever more urbanised, which exasperates the need for commercial vehicles that are light, agile and versatile. Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) have become an increasingly important part of our transportation system. As the pandemic brought with it the home-working and home-delivery boom, the LCVs have met the challenge. Now, the European LCV market is set to grow from €58bn in 2021 to €75bn in 2026. The global LCV market is expected to reach €735 billion by 2030.
With this increased usage and the growing environmental impact comes the need for optimisation of the systems and vehicles. Let’s explore a few of the creative optimisation options to LCV fleet managers today. 

As 2023 begins, Arval Mobility Observatory is pleased to share with you a synthesis of changes to statutory taxation and the associated mechanisms evolutions in Europe, by country. As follows, you will find a non-exhaustive list highlighting the evolution of Governmental taxation, grants and bonus schemes for 2023 in some European countries (such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia) Switzerland and the United Kingdom.