Journal article
Fuelling walking and cycling: human powered locomotion is associated with non-negligible greenhouse gas emissions
- Abstract:
- Reducing motorized transport and increasing active transport (i.e. transport by walking, cycling and other active modes) may reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve health. But, active modes of transport are not zero emitters. We aimed to quantify GHG emissions from food production required to fuel extra physical activity for walking and cycling. We estimate the emissions (in kgCO2e) per kilometre travelled for walking and cycling from energy intake required to compensate for increased energy expenditure, and data on food-related GHG emissions. We assume that persons who shift from passive modes of transport (e.g. driving) have increased energy expenditure that may be compensated with increased food consumption. The GHG emissions associated with food intake required to fuel a kilometre of walking range between 0.05 kgCO2e/km in the least economically developed countries to 0.26 kgCO2e/km in the most economically developed countries. Emissions for cycling are approximately half those of walking. Emissions from food required for walking and cycling are not negligible in economically developed countries which have high dietary-related emissions. There is high uncertainty about the actual emissions associated with walking and cycling, and high variability based on country economic development. Our study highlights the need to consider emissions from other sectors when estimating net-emissions impacts from transport interventions.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 960.4KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41598-020-66170-y
Authors
- Publisher:
- Nature Research
- Journal:
- Scientific reports More from this journal
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- Article number:
- 9196
- Publication date:
- 2020-06-08
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-05-15
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2045-2322
- Pmid:
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32513974
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1112839
- Local pid:
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pubs:1112839
- Deposit date:
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2020-08-19
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Mizdrak et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2020
- Rights statement:
- ©2020 The Author(s). Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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