The Netherlands is by far the most bicycle-riding nation in the world. You just have to walk through the streets of its towns and cities to intuit it, but the data confirms that sensation: 53% of its citizens claims to use this means of transport two or more times a week, according to the latest information on the matter collected by Statista. The second is India, with 38%, and the third Germany, with 34%. Spain occupies the eighth position with 22%.
Thus, the Dutch travel, on average, about 2.6 kilometers a day on their bicycles. A figure that, if extended to the rest of the planet’s inhabitants, would save our atmosphere 686 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, according to a recent study on mobility and pollution published by Nature.
That is, more than what some of the countries with the highest emissions in the world pollute, such as Germany (605 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year), South Korea (578 tons per year) or Canada (518 tons per year). year and more than a quarter of what all the members of the European Union pollute As a whole: 2,551 tons per year, according to the data of the World Energy Statisty Report data 2021 of the BP oil company.
Your example is not followed
The authors of the study point out that, despite the evidence on the positive impact of bicycle use on the environment and health for years, few countries have seriously and uniformly promoted its use with policies that encourage and routes that facilitate it in cities, towns and interurban roads.
“We have been solid scientific evidence for the benefits of cycling mobility for health, the environment and society. However, this is not enough for an increase in this mobility, since there are other (economic and political) arguments that we must take into account. This study helps us understand the global potential that the adoption of cycling mobility would have at levels similar to those shown today by certain cities and countries in which the appropriate conditions have been generated,” explains Esther Anaya-Boig, a researcher on sustainable mobility at Imperial College London and the organization CambiaMO, who has not participated in said research.
Currently, the different types of transport account for a quarter of all fuel-related greenhouse gases emitted in the world, and half of these emissions correspond to private vehicles such as cars and trucks.
Many bikes, little use
The study also affects that in the world there are more and more bicycles, and that its global production has increased at a greater rate than cars in recent decades. In fact, there would currently be twice as many bikes as cars on the planetand between 1962 and 2015 (the period analyzed in this study) the number of existing bicycles in the world multiplied by six, while that of motor vehicles multiplied by five.
“Although this does not correlate with the use of bicycles for transportation, it indicates that a good part of the population has access to the cyclist vehicle and that they could use it for transportation at any time, if the rest of the conditions that hinder immediate use”, says Anaya-Boig.
Thus, both the authors of the study and the researcher of the Imperial College of London insist that countries should follow the example of the Netherlands and improve education, communication, regulation and planning on the use of the bicycle to facilitate that all those who already have these vehicles can use them safely and easily in their cities, and encourage those who do not have them to use them.
Image | Alice
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism