Governments are finally starting to see the importance of building toward a sustainable future. The Paris Agreement on climate change has been adopted by 196 countries, with all pledging to limit the human effects of global warming.
As a result, creating sustainable cities has become a priority for many countries. Cycling is one of the main components of making this happen. France, for example, is pushing to make Paris a 100% bikeable city. Berlin has revealed plans to create a fully car-free area that’s larger than Manhattan. Overall, 424 cities in the EU are working on sustainable urban mobility plans, with cycling at the forefront of the strategy.
Cycling is taking center stage when it comes to sustainability. But why exactly does it represent such a good opportunity to help lower our overall carbon emissions?
Low Carbon Footprint
The clear reason that you probably already have in your mind is that cycling has a super low carbon footprint. But let’s put things into a bit of perspective to highlight why cycling can be such a boost to sustainability initiatives.
First, the stats: cycling represents a carbon footprint of just 21g of CO2 every kilometer traveled. That’s less than public transport, but you knew that. Prepare to be wowed, however.
Cycling emits less carbon than walking. This is due to the caloric requirements of each activity. So even though cycling requires the production of a bike (which represents CO2), overall it’s still the most sustainable option.
In Europe, cycling is already known as a viable transport option. In places like the United States, however, grabbing your bike is still mainly seen as a recreational activity. To truly tap into the low carbon footprint potential, we need to give cycling a reputational makeover.
Electric Bikes: The Future of Urban Travel?
You’re now aware that the caloric intake required to fuel our bodies to walk or cycle comes into the carbon footprint equation. Let’s take that thought process further by thinking about electric bikes.
These have increased in popularity in recent years, but are perhaps hindered due to a stigma about production costs and associated carbon emissions. However, the truth is that they are even more sustainable due to the relatively low number of calories burned per kilometer. Overall, e-bikes are a fantastically sustainable option.
Electric bikes are also often far more convenient. They won’t leave you all sweaty when you arrive at the office, and it makes longer trips far easier. For those of us who struggle to cycle on conventional bikes, electric varieties still give the option to skip using the car.
Small Steps = Big Impact
We often think that our sacrifices do not make a difference. Amid increasing global emissions, how can lowering one person’s carbon footprint do anything?
But that’s the wrong way of thinking about it. You don’t need to upend your entire life, swapping all journeys for cycling. According to research from Imperial College and Oxford University, opting for your bike instead of the car just one day per week can have significant effects on urban carbon emissions.
Overall, the study found that changing one trip per day can reduce personal carbon footprint by 0.5 tonnes. Per capita, this is a sizable reduction in emissions. Let’s say that just 10% of people opt to do this; the ‘savings’ in overall car emissions would be 4%.
Cycling for Short Trips
Did you know that approximately 41% of all trips we take are less than two miles? Yet many people still opt to use their cars, rather than cycling. Considering two miles take roughly fifteen minutes, it seems reasonable to suggest swapping modes of transport wouldn’t be too difficult.
For short trips, cycling is the optimal solution when working towards sustainability. For two miles, walking would increase the journey time to 45 minutes. And public transport is usually never quite convenient enough; the stop is in the wrong place, or it doesn’t quite take you exactly where you need to go. Cycling, however, is a quick and convenient alternative.
What if Cycling Returned to Its 1940s Heyday?
Let’s consider what the aggregate effect of cycling would be on our environment. Specifically, let’s extrapolate from 1940s Britain, where people cycled up to six times further than the average person today.
Six times seems like a lot. But it’s possible. Countries are continually pushing cycling and improving road conditions, electric bikes are becoming increasingly affordable and accessible, whilst people are starting to see the health and environmental benefits of opting for two wheels.
Let’s push for the return of cycling’s heyday. If we do that, the net reduction would be approximately 6% of total transport emissions. Combined with other net zero initiatives, cycling can make a real and important impact on a sustainable urban future.