Dutch people cycle an average of 2.6 kilometres each per day. If this pattern was replicated worldwide, the study suggests, annual global carbon emissions would drop by 686 million tonnes.
This mammoth figure exceeds the entire carbon footprint of most countries, including the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
The Netherlands is also one of the flattest countries in the world. We should still all cycle more, but it would require much more effort to cycle 5km in San Francisco or the Himalayas than in the Netherlands.
It’s also very rainy and windy.
And come on, not every city is like SanFran – it’s disengenious to imply so.
Oh, I’m not trying to imply that. I ride a traditional bike myself in an incredibly hilly area, and it can absolutely be done (though it really sucks sometimes). I’m just noting the reality that there’s less effort involved in flat cycling than in hilly cycling and the Netherlands is famously flat.
People in really hilly areas can also get e-bikes, which would still be a huge improvement over driving, but wouldn’t bring us down to the transportation emissions of the Netherlands.