Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for achieving climate-neutral cities

Just one in 50 new cars sold worldwide was fully electric in 2020. Today, it’s roughly one in four, but more than 95% of the cars on the road globally still have internal combustion engines, because replacing vehicles is inherently a slow process. Even if every new car sold today were electric, it would still take 15 to 20 years to replace the world’s entire fleet of petrol and diesel cars.

The emissions savings from replacing all these vehicles with zero-emission alternatives therefore won’t come quickly enough to have the necessary impact within the time we have available – the next five years. Tackling the climate crisis and air pollution requires us to reduce motorised transport as quickly as possible, especially private car use. Focusing exclusively on electric cars may actually slow the transition to zero emissions.

One reason is that electric cars are not truly emissions-free. Extracting the raw materials for their batteries, manufacturing the vehicles and generating the electricity that powers them all produce greenhouse gas emissions.

Transport is a major source of pollution

Transport, which accounts for a quarter of Europe’s CO₂ emissions, is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise because it relies heavily on fossil fuels and carbon-intensive infrastructure such as roads, airports and vehicles themselves. It also reinforces car-dependent lifestyles. One way to cut transport emissions relatively quickly – and potentially worldwide – is to replace car journeys with cycling, e-biking or walking. This is known as active mobility.

Active mobility is cheaper, healthier and better for the environment, and on congested city streets it isn’t necessarily any slower. So how much can it reduce carbon dioxide emissions in everyday life? And what role can it play in cutting transport emissions overall?

A 2021 study found that people who walk or cycle have a lower carbon footprint from daily travel – even though some walking and cycling trips simply complement rather than replace motorised transport. A wider shift towards active mobility would reduce transport emissions both overall and on a journey-by-journey basis.

Electric mobility is only seemingly the green solution of the future

How much difference can a single journey make?

The study followed 4,000 residents of London, Antwerp, Barcelona, Vienna, Örebro, Rome and Zurich. Over the course of two years, participants recorded 10,000 travel diaries, logging every journey they made during the day – from taking the train to work and driving their children to school to catching the bus into the city centre. We calculated the carbon footprint of each journey.

The results were striking. People who cycled every day had 84% lower carbon emissions from all their daily travel than those who did not cycle.

The study also found that the average person who replaces one car journey a week with a bike ride cuts their carbon footprint by 3.2 kg of CO₂. That is equivalent to the emissions from:

• driving a car for around 10 kilometres,
• eating a serving of lamb or chocolate,
• or sending around 800 emails.

The researchers also compared the full life-cycle emissions of different modes of transport, including emissions from manufacturing, use and disposal. They found that emissions associated with cycling can be more than 30 times lower per journey than those from a petrol or diesel car, and around 10 times lower than those from an electric car.

They also estimate that city dwellers who replace one car journey with a bike ride every day could reduce their carbon footprint by around half a tonne of CO₂ over a year. That is equivalent to the emissions from a one-way flight from London to New York.

The pandemic changed travel behaviour

If one in five European city residents were to make this kind of lasting change to their travel habits over the next few years, emissions from all passenger car journeys in Europe could fall by around 8%.

Almost half of the reduction in daily emissions during the worldwide lockdowns in 2020 came from reduced transport. But this was only a temporary effect. Once pandemic restrictions were lifted, traffic volumes and emissions largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. Even so, the pandemic showed that changes in travel behaviour – such as greater use of walking, cycling and working from home – can make a significant contribution to cutting emissions if they become a lasting part of everyday life. This is particularly relevant given that the high purchase price of many electric cars may still put them out of reach for some potential buyers.

The race to cut emissions is therefore well under way. Active mobility can help tackle the climate crisis sooner than electric cars, while also offering an affordable, reliable, clean, healthy and efficient way to get around and helping to ease traffic congestion.

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