Astypalea: Greece's Zero-Emission Island

A population of 1300 and a location off the beaten track. The island of Astypalea, part of the Dodecanese archipelago around Rhodes, is the perfect place to experiment with intelligent and sustainable mobility. Since June 2021, the Greek government and Volkwagen have been testing new concepts for holistic and climate-neutral electric mobility here. These include electric vehicles, car sharing, intelligent public driving services and solar plants for the generation of green electricity. The gradual conversion to smart, sustainable mobility for the Greek island is to take place by 2026. A complete renewal of the energy system is also planned.  

One year after the start of the six-year project, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and VW CEO Herbert Diess have now drawn up a first interim balance. The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction with the progress made so far on the island in the fight against climate change. With the project on Astypalea, "we are now at the forefront of innovation in the introduction of intelligent mobility systems," Mitsotakis stated. This is only one part of Greece's sustainability transformation. Among them is the goal of taking all coal-fired power plants off the grid by 2028.   

VW boss Diess also sees what has been achieved so far at Astypalea as a positive interim result. His company is a "driver of change away from gas, oil and coal towards renewable energies". With the project, Volkswagen was finally able to show "that a rapid transformation to green mobility and energy is feasible if companies and governments work hand in hand". 

Now the cooperation project can enter its second phase and introduce so-called "smart" mobility services. A new system, a kind of mobility on demand, will replace the former more traditional bus line.  By only being able to connect a few places on the 96-square-kilometre island, residents considered the old line not only polluting but also ineffective. From now on, residents and tourists can book rides with the new ride-sharing service Astybus via an app instead. The minibuses, five Volkswagen ID.Buzzes, will also serve the island's remote locations as needed. This not only ensures mobility on Astypalea, but also saves emissions in the process. Rental cars, electric scooters and e-bikes can also be booked by mobile phone via the app. 

To support the electrification of transport on the island, private car owners even receive state subsidies of up to 40 percent of the purchase price and scrapping premiums for their old combustion cars.  For this, as well as thanks to the establishment of an area-wide network of public charging stations, ten percent of vehicles are already electric.  It is also predicted that car sharing will reduce the number of vehicles on the island by a third. "We are experiencing the transformation of mobility in fast motion on Astypalea," Diess explains. Mobility in Europe could also look like this in a few years, he continues.  

The project is already causing a stir. But there are still further steps to be taken on the Greek island. Astypalea still gets most of its electricity from a diesel power plant that produces 4800 tonnes of CO2 per year. But this must change if it wants to become the first emission-free inhabited island. Next year, the conversion of the energy system to locally generated green electricity from solar cells and wind generators will begin. Then 80 per cent of the electricity consumed from Astypalea should come from the sun and wind by 2026. The goal would be to reduce CO2 emissions by 70 percent by then. 

The island of the Dodecanese and Volkswagen are not the first to tackle such a project. In November 2021, Citroën also launched mobility electrification efforts on the not-so-distant island of Halki. After a year, it seems that Astypalea would have the best chance of success. It could hold all the cards to become Greece's insular zero-emission zone and a good example for the rest of Europe.