The world could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by almost 700 million tonnes each year, the equivalent of Canada’s annual emissions, if everyone cycled daily, according to a study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment (article in English).
The transport sector accounts for a quarter of all current greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming, and global demand for transport is expected to triple by the middle of the century. Half of these emissions now come from cars whose number of sales is closely monitored, unlike those of bicycles.
An international team of researchers has compiled the world’s first database of bicycle ownership and use in 60 countries since the early 1960s. According to these researchers, over the period 1962-2015, the number of bicycles produced exceeded that of cars. And China accounted for nearly two-thirds of the more than 123 million bicycles manufactured in 2015.
In the 60 countries studied, the share of bicycle use for daily trips was only 5% on average. In some countries, such as the United States, the number of bicycles is high, but their owners tend to consider cycling more as a leisure activity than as a mode of daily transport, and short trips are often made by car.
But if everyone cycled an average of 1.6 kilometers per day, the daily average distance of Danes, the world would reduce CO2 emissions by some 414 million tonnes per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of the Great Britain, according to the researchers’ calculations.
With 2.6 kilometers of journeys made by bicycle per day as in the Netherlands, emissions could be reduced by 686 million tonnes per year, not counting the benefits for health and for the improvement of air quality. .