Trends in Sustainable Transport: Mapping the Scientific Landscape of the European Green Deal Challenges and Tech

The European Green Deal (EGD) positions sustainable transport as a central pillar of the European Union’s transition toward climate neutrality, innovation-driven competitiveness, and resilient economic systems. Since 2019, scholarly research on sustainable transport has grown substantially, reflecting a shift from policy design toward crisis-oriented implementation and technological deployment. Nevertheless, the rapid expansion of this body of literature has generated conceptual fragmentation, complicating the identification of prevailing research directions, levels of technological maturity, and patterns of global scientific leadership.

This paper applies bibliometric analysis to examine the scientific landscape of sustainable transport research within the framework of the European Green Deal between 2019 and 2025. Drawing on data retrieved from the Web of Science database and analyzed using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer, the study investigates thematic evolution, technological maturity, co-authorship networks, and keyword co-occurrence structures. The results indicate a marked transition from dispersed, technology-specific research during the policy proposal stage toward a more consolidated techno-centric paradigm in the implementation stage, shaped primarily by the Internet of Things, optimization, and cyber-physical security. In addition, the findings reveal a structural imbalance in global scientific leadership, with the research agenda predominantly influenced by China and the United States, while the European Union demonstrates strong intra-regional collaboration but comparatively limited global centrality.

The study contributes to the literature on sustainable transport and business excellence by providing an evidence-based synthesis of the extent to which scientific research aligns with large-scale policy initiatives such as the European Green Deal. In doing so, it supports more informed decision-making among policymakers, researchers, and business leaders.