Why World Car Free Day matters

As many as 50% of car journeys are less than five km and could be replaced by walking, cycling and e-biking - or active travel, as it's called. It won't come as a surprise that lifecycle carbon emissions from cycling and e-biking can be 30 times lower than driving a fossil fuel car, and ten times lower than driving an electric car. We found that urban residents who switch from driving to cycling for just one trip per day can reduce their carbon footprint by about half a tonne over the course of a year. And if just one in five urban residents permanently switched from driving to cycling over the next few years, it's estimated emissions from all car travel in Europe would reduce by about 8%.

Christian said: "Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions. Electric cars clearly are a major part of the future of transport, however even if all new cars were fully electric, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world's fossil fuel car fleet. Active travel can contribute to tackling the climate emergency earlier than electric vehicles while providing affordable, reliable, clean, healthy and congestion-busting transport - one car-free day at a time."

Further details

• Obsessing over electric cars is impeding the race to net zero: More active travel is essential, University of Oxford, 14 June 2021.
• Focusing just on electric cars could impede race to net zero, UK Research and Innovation.

#WorldCarFreeDay. Part of the University's #TruePlanet campaign in advance of COP26 held in early November 2021 in Glasgow.