EIT Urban Mobility is a European Union–backed network created to speed up the shift toward sustainable, low-carbon urban solutions. With more than 270 partners and a broader network of over 1,200 organizations across 33 countries, it works to make European cities cleaner, more efficient, and more livable.
On October 7, 2025, EIT Urban Mobility published an article praising the car-free Sunday campaign, claiming that it is steadily reshaping public attitudes and policies because it provides cleaner, quieter, and healthier cities. The article stated in part:
• “Car-free interventions trace back to the energy shocks of the 1970s, when countries staged car-free Sundays during the oil crisis.” [1]
• “However, it was not until the late 1990s that car-free days saw widespread traction.” [1]
• “Today, European Mobility Week involves more than 3,000 municipalities across 50 countries, providing a shared calendar for experimenting with new mobility measures.” [1]
• “Globally, the idea has taken root in diverse forms. Bogotá, Colombia is a leading example: its Ciclovía began as a protest in the 1970s and evolved into a weekly tradition that closes more than 100 kilometers of arterial routes every Sunday.” [1]
• “By removing vehicles, even temporarily, cities enjoy cleaner air and quieter streets. In Brussels, a 2023 report of the impacts of a single car-free Sunday found that levels of nitrogen dioxide fell by at least 44% and up to 77% in certain areas, compared to an average Sunday.” [1]
• “Beyond environmental and health impacts, car-free days encourage behavioral change.” [1]
• “Perhaps the most enduring impact, however, is political. Car-free days act as a powerful proof of concept for larger interventions and more permanent changes.” [1]
• “Car-free days accomplish three things simultaneously: they give the public a lived experience of quieter, cleaner streets; they provide policymakers with a low-cost laboratory to test design interventions; and they build political and social support for permanent change.” [1]
• “Paired with longer-term investments in sustainable mobility policy and infrastructure, the lessons learned on a single day can ripple outward into long-term shifts: less congestion, healthier air, more public space and a pathway toward the low-emission cities that many citizens already glimpse each year on World Car-Free Day.” [1]
EIT Urban Mobility’s October 7, 2025, article is helping to legitimize Sunday-based restrictions by presenting car-free Sundays as a positive, science-backed solution for society. By pointing to cleaner air, quieter streets, reduced emissions, and healthier cities, the article presents Sunday shutdowns as public-benefit measures that improve our lives. This helps to build acceptance for the idea that our world functions better when activity on Sunday slows down.
According to The Great Controversy, p. 590, the time will come when society will claim that disasters—natural, social, and economic—are the direct result of failing to honor Sunday. Modern political leaders are already blaming extreme weather, fires, droughts, heatwaves, and rising seas as the result of human activity. What we are observing is a claim that is becoming more and more popular stating that the world must adopt a unified weekly “day of rest” to prevent further catastrophe.
“It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity” (Great Controversy, p. 590).
Sources
[1] https://www.eiturbanmobility.eu/knowledge-hub/mastering-mobility-with-car-free-days/
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