DISCUSSING ADVANCEMENTS: THE WORLD COUNCIL FOR AUTOMOBILE MOBILITY AND TOURISM FIRST MEETING OF 2023

The first 2023 meeting of the World Council for Automobile Mobility and Tourism (WCAMT) was the occasion to discuss the rollout of ambitious projects to promote safe and sustainable mobility, plans to better empower the regions and support the Clubs, as well as a joint initiative to preserve and protect the automobile heritage.

A highlight of yesterday’s meeting was the endorsement by the World Council of a new scheme for the allocation of Mobility grants funded by the FIA Foundation in 2023. As a result, grants will be allocated to support regional projects in alignment with FIA Mobility Regions’ priorities. They will complement the two calls for applications for the FIA Road Safety Grants Programme and the FIA Sustainable Mobility Programme that will be launched shortly. FIA Mobility global advocacy initiatives, under the supervision of the FIA Mobility Policy Commission and the FIA Programmes Committee (PROCOM), will also be supported to help reach the goal of making the FIA the global voice of safe, sustainable and affordable mobility.   

This new scheme allowed the WCAMT to reassert its goal to empower FIA Mobility Regions, in alignment with the Senior Leadership Team’s Manifesto.

Reinforcing the position of the FIA and its Members as key experts in the field of road safety is also one of WCAMT’s top priorities. World Council Members noted the latest developments of the FIA Road Safety Index project and the objectives for 2023.

The aim of the Index is to enable companies and organisations to evaluate their impact on safety, adopt a systematic approach to improve their road safety results and build a culture of safe and sustainable mobility on the long term. It provides an comprehensive methodology to calculate the road safety footprint of organisations and companies, that relies on a similar concept as the carbon footprint calculator.

In 2023, communications will be enhanced to incentivise more organisations to implement the Index, the methodology will be further refined and Clubs will be onboarded to support the roll out of the Index at the national level. This will contribute to strengthening their role as key advocates for safer roads and effective game-changers in their countries.

Preserving the motoring heritage is a key challenge in the ever-evolving mobility landscape. The FIA International Historical Commission (CHI Commission) joined forces with the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) to raise the case of historical vehicles and spread awareness of the reasons why they should have their place on the roads today and tomorrow.

This joint initiative aiming to reach government and society as a whole resulted in the production of a brochure serving as a manifesto to secure the future of our motoring heritage. The brochure, which was presented to the World Council, looks at historical cars’ economic and social value brought about by restoration businesses and events for enthusiasts. It also touches upon climate challenges. A crucial part of our technical and cultural legacy, these cars represent a very small and clearly defined section of the vehicle fleet. Their use is minimal for the sake of preservation and their lifecycle maximised, which limits their environmental impact. The historic vehicle community is also strongly engaged in testing the suitability of synthetic e-fuels. The CHI Commission, FIVA and FIM are convinced that regulatory or technical solutions can be found to ensure that historical vehicles are part of a more sustainable mobility future.

The brochure can be read here.