The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities

Christian Brand; Evi Dons; Esther Anaya-Boig; Ione Avila-Palencia; Anna Clark; Audrey de Nazelle; Mireia Gascon; Mailin Gaupp-Berghausen; Regine Gerike; Thomas Götschi; Francesco Iacorossi; Sonja Kahlmeier; Michelle Laeremans; Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen; Juan Pablo Orjuela; Francesca Racioppi; Elisabeth Raser; David Rojas-Rueda; Arnout Standaert; Erik Stigell; Simona Sulikova; Sandra Wegener; Luc Int Panis

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2021.102764

The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities

Christian Brand^*, Evi Dons, Esther Anaya-Boig, Ione Avila-Palencia, Anna Clark, Audrey de Nazelle, Mireia Gascon, Mailin Gaupp-Berghausen, Regine Gerike, Thomas Götschi, Francesco Iacorossi, Sonja Kahlmeier, Michelle Laeremans, Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, Juan Pablo Orjuela, Francesca Racioppi, Elisabeth Raser, David Rojas-Rueda, Arnout Standaert, Erik StigellSimona Sulikova, Sandra Wegener, Luc Int Panis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable form of personal transport. Yet its net effects on mobility-related CO₂ emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected travel activity data in seven European cities and derived life cycle CO₂ emissions across modes and purposes. Daily mobility-related life cycle CO₂ emissions were 3.2 kgCO₂ per person, with car travel contributing 70% and cycling 1%. Cyclists had 84% lower life cycle CO₂ emissions than non-cyclists. Life cycle CO₂ emissions decreased by −14% per additional cycling trip and decreased by −62% for each avoided car trip. An average person who ‘shifted travel modes’ from car to bike decreased life cycle CO₂ emissions by 3.2 kgCO₂/day. Promoting active travel should be a cornerstone of strategies to meet net zero carbon targets, particularly in urban areas, while also improving public health and quality of urban life.

Original language	English
Article number	102764
Journal	Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
Volume	93
Early online date	27 Feb 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.102764
Publication status	Published - Apr 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA). PASTA (http://www.pastaproject.eu/) was a four-year project funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (EU FP7) under European Commission ‐ Grant Agreement No. 602624. CB is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS, Grant agreement number EP/R035288/1). ED is also supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. ML held a joint PASTA/VITO PhD scholarship. SS is supported by the Martin Filko Scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Slovakia.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA). PASTA ( http://www.pastaproject.eu/ ) was a four-year project funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (EU FP7) under European Commission ‐ Grant Agreement No. 602624. CB is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS, Grant agreement number EP/R035288/1). ED is also supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. ML held a joint PASTA/VITO PhD scholarship. SS is supported by the Martin Filko Scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Slovakia.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021

Keywords

Active mobility
Climate change mitigation
CO emissions
Cycling
Sustainable urban transport
Walking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Civil and Structural Engineering
Transportation
General Environmental Science

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.trd.2021.102764Licence: CC BY

The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities
Copyright 2021 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 1.04 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Brand, C., Dons, E., Anaya-Boig, E., Avila-Palencia, I., Clark, A., de Nazelle, A., Gascon, M., Gaupp-Berghausen, M., Gerike, R., Götschi, T., Iacorossi, F., Kahlmeier, S., Laeremans, M., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Pablo Orjuela, J., Racioppi, F., Raser, E., Rojas-Rueda, D., Standaert, A., ... Int Panis, L. (2021). The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 93, Article 102764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.102764

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title = "The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities",

abstract = "Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable form of personal transport. Yet its net effects on mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected travel activity data in seven European cities and derived life cycle CO2 emissions across modes and purposes. Daily mobility-related life cycle CO2 emissions were 3.2 kgCO2 per person, with car travel contributing 70% and cycling 1%. Cyclists had 84% lower life cycle CO2 emissions than non-cyclists. Life cycle CO2 emissions decreased by −14% per additional cycling trip and decreased by −62% for each avoided car trip. An average person who {\textquoteleft}shifted travel modes{\textquoteright} from car to bike decreased life cycle CO2 emissions by 3.2 kgCO2/day. Promoting active travel should be a cornerstone of strategies to meet net zero carbon targets, particularly in urban areas, while also improving public health and quality of urban life.",

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author = "Christian Brand and Evi Dons and Esther Anaya-Boig and Ione Avila-Palencia and Anna Clark and {de Nazelle}, Audrey and Mireia Gascon and Mailin Gaupp-Berghausen and Regine Gerike and Thomas G{\"o}tschi and Francesco Iacorossi and Sonja Kahlmeier and Michelle Laeremans and Nieuwenhuijsen, {Mark J.} and {Pablo Orjuela}, Juan and Francesca Racioppi and Elisabeth Raser and David Rojas-Rueda and Arnout Standaert and Erik Stigell and Simona Sulikova and Sandra Wegener and {Int Panis}, Luc",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA). PASTA (http://www.pastaproject.eu/) was a four-year project funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (EU FP7) under European Commission ‐ Grant Agreement No. 602624. CB is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS, Grant agreement number EP/R035288/1). ED is also supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. ML held a joint PASTA/VITO PhD scholarship. SS is supported by the Martin Filko Scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Slovakia. Funding Information: This work was supported by the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA). PASTA ( http://www.pastaproject.eu/ ) was a four-year project funded by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Seventh Framework Program (EU FP7) under European Commission ‐ Grant Agreement No. 602624. CB is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS, Grant agreement number EP/R035288/1). ED is also supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. ML held a joint PASTA/VITO PhD scholarship. SS is supported by the Martin Filko Scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Slovakia. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021",

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Brand, C, Dons, E, Anaya-Boig, E, Avila-Palencia, I, Clark, A, de Nazelle, A, Gascon, M, Gaupp-Berghausen, M, Gerike, R, Götschi, T, Iacorossi, F, Kahlmeier, S, Laeremans, M, Nieuwenhuijsen, MJ, Pablo Orjuela, J, Racioppi, F, Raser, E, Rojas-Rueda, D, Standaert, A, Stigell, E, Sulikova, S, Wegener, S & Int Panis, L 2021, 'The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities', Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, vol. 93, 102764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.102764

TY - JOUR

T1 - The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities

AU - Brand, Christian

AU - Dons, Evi

AU - Anaya-Boig, Esther

AU - Avila-Palencia, Ione

AU - Clark, Anna

AU - de Nazelle, Audrey

AU - Gascon, Mireia

AU - Gaupp-Berghausen, Mailin

AU - Gerike, Regine

AU - Götschi, Thomas

AU - Iacorossi, Francesco

AU - Kahlmeier, Sonja

AU - Laeremans, Michelle

AU - Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.

AU - Pablo Orjuela, Juan

AU - Racioppi, Francesca

AU - Raser, Elisabeth

AU - Rojas-Rueda, David

AU - Standaert, Arnout

AU - Stigell, Erik

AU - Sulikova, Simona

AU - Wegener, Sandra

AU - Int Panis, Luc

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA). PASTA (http://www.pastaproject.eu/) was a four-year project funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (EU FP7) under European Commission ‐ Grant Agreement No. 602624. CB is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS, Grant agreement number EP/R035288/1). ED is also supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. ML held a joint PASTA/VITO PhD scholarship. SS is supported by the Martin Filko Scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Slovakia. Funding Information: This work was supported by the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA). PASTA ( http://www.pastaproject.eu/ ) was a four-year project funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (EU FP7) under European Commission ‐ Grant Agreement No. 602624. CB is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS, Grant agreement number EP/R035288/1). ED is also supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. ML held a joint PASTA/VITO PhD scholarship. SS is supported by the Martin Filko Scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Slovakia. Publisher Copyright: © 2021

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable form of personal transport. Yet its net effects on mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected travel activity data in seven European cities and derived life cycle CO2 emissions across modes and purposes. Daily mobility-related life cycle CO2 emissions were 3.2 kgCO2 per person, with car travel contributing 70% and cycling 1%. Cyclists had 84% lower life cycle CO2 emissions than non-cyclists. Life cycle CO2 emissions decreased by −14% per additional cycling trip and decreased by −62% for each avoided car trip. An average person who ‘shifted travel modes’ from car to bike decreased life cycle CO2 emissions by 3.2 kgCO2/day. Promoting active travel should be a cornerstone of strategies to meet net zero carbon targets, particularly in urban areas, while also improving public health and quality of urban life.

AB - Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable form of personal transport. Yet its net effects on mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected travel activity data in seven European cities and derived life cycle CO2 emissions across modes and purposes. Daily mobility-related life cycle CO2 emissions were 3.2 kgCO2 per person, with car travel contributing 70% and cycling 1%. Cyclists had 84% lower life cycle CO2 emissions than non-cyclists. Life cycle CO2 emissions decreased by −14% per additional cycling trip and decreased by −62% for each avoided car trip. An average person who ‘shifted travel modes’ from car to bike decreased life cycle CO2 emissions by 3.2 kgCO2/day. Promoting active travel should be a cornerstone of strategies to meet net zero carbon targets, particularly in urban areas, while also improving public health and quality of urban life.

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KW - Climate change mitigation

KW - CO emissions

KW - Cycling

KW - Sustainable urban transport

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DO - 10.1016/j.trd.2021.102764

M3 - Article

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SN - 1361-9209

VL - 93

JO - Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

JF - Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment

M1 - 102764

ER -

The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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Cite this