Bicycle Network has joined the list of signatories of an open letter about cycling addressed to the governments currently meeting at the 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
The open letter, prepared by the Partnership for Active Travel and Health (PATH), is a global call to governments and cities to invest more in walking and cycling to achieve climate goals and achieve a truly sustainable mobility paradigm.
"Enabling more people to walk and cycle safely is essential to achieving the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, yet walking and cycling lack priority in the transport and mobility mix and the wider climate agenda", the letter states.
The letter urges governments to commit to prioritising and investing in walking and cycling, through Nationally Determined Contributions and integrated and coherent strategies, including plans, funding and concrete actions for:
- Infrastructure – to make walking and cycling safe, accessible and easy to do.
- Campaigns – to support a shift in people’s mobility habits.
- Land use planning – to ensure proximity and quality of access to everyday services on foot and by bike.
- Integration with public transport – to underpin sustainable mobility for longer trips.
- Capacity building – to enable the successful delivery of effective walking and cycling strategies that have measurable impact.
You can read the full letter here.
Over 350 of the world's leading bike riding advocacy groups, NGOs and associations have signed the letter, nearly four times as many co-signatories than the letter that was prepared for COP26 last year.
A concerted effort to increase bike riding as a transport mode could lead to huge emission reductions. A recent UK study found that up to 24.4 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved per annum by substituting car travel for e-bike use. This amount is roughly 30 per cent of Australia’s transport-related emissions in 2021.
Controversially, there was no transport day at COP27, as there has been in previous years.