Washington, United States

New research reveals that if everyone followed the Dutch way of life and cycled daily, it would help to avoid more than 700 million tonnes of carbon pollution per year. A quarter of all fuel-related greenhouse gas emissions, which warm the planet, are currently majorly attributed to the transportation sector.The research was published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

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Automobile passengers account for half of the emissions, and that number is expected to triple by the middle of the century. Governments and businesses have shifted to electric vehicles to decarbonise transportation, with nearly 6.75 million units sold by the year 2021.

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Statistics on auto sales are provided. However, the production and ownership costs of a cycle are expected to be challenging to estimate. Using statistical modelling, an international team has generated the world’s first dataset on bicycle ownership. Bicycle production increased faster than car production between 1962 and 2015, with China accounting for more than two-thirds of the 123 million bikes produced in 2015.

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The study demonstrated that bicycle ownership was mostly in upper-income and upper-middle-income nations, but these countries had a fair proportion of car ownership as well. However, bicycles were used as a mode of transportation in only 5 per cent of the 60 countries studied.

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The researchers said, "Going Dutch" and cycling 2.6 kilometres daily like people do in the Netherlands would save 686 million tonnes, and bring with it associated health benefits due to more exercise and improved air quality. A worldwide pro-bicycle policy and infrastructure development enabled modal shift like the Netherlands and Denmark can lead to significant untapped climate and health benefits," AFP reported.

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Lead researcher Gang Liu said that bicycles in the future will play a significant role in controlling carbon emissions. In conversation with AFP, the researcher said that to address such issues, more than technological solutions are needed, such as alternative travel patterns are needed, ride-sharing, and using bicycles to cover short distances.

(With inputs from agencies)