Cycling to RePower EU and Clean Cities Campaign

The EU’s new REPowerEU plan calls for free bike sharing and micro mobility, promotion of last -mile delivery by cargo bikes and incentivizing bike purchases

The European Commission last Wednesday published its historical REPowerEU plan to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and fast forward the green transition. The plan aims to reach the ambition through energy savings, diversification of energy supplies, and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels in homes, industry and power generation.

Cycling Industries Europe together with our partners have been advocating and making the case on how cycling is the fastest way to transform urban mobility and cut emissions in cities. If Europe wants to get out of fossil fuel dependency rapidly then cycling is the fast track. We have estimated that cycling alone could reduce Russian oil dependency by 12%, using existing products and technologies.

This is why we were delighted to see that in the immediate actions measures of the REPowerEU plan, we see a clear endorsement of what should be done and fast.

These win-win measures include:

• Incentivize walking, cycling and micromobility in cities
• Support for free bike sharing and other micromobility solutions
• Incentivizing bike purchases through bike purchase subsidies or
  tax/VAT reductions
• Incentives/rewards for employees that use public transport or active
  modes for commuting to work
• Investing in new bike lanes in and around/towards cities
• Promoting/incentivizing last-mile delivery by cargo bike or smaller
  delivery e-vehicles
• Increasing possibilities to travel on public transport (train, metro)
  with a bike

Rolling out these measures across the EU at local, regional and national levels won’t only help cutting Europe’s dependency on Russian oil but also fast track reaching the EU’s climate goals and making Europe the first climate-neutral continent in the world.

CIE, our members and partners will now be focussing our attention on the delivery of these measures. We call on all companies in the cycling sector to add your influence, the governments of Europe need to hear our united voice.

For more information:

REPowerEU

‘EU Save Energy’ communication (list of measures)

Cycling towards energy independence (Eight recommendations from ECF, CIE and Conebi)

Clean Cities Campaign

CIE is supporting Clean Cities Campaign showcasing what could be done if money spent on fuel tax cuts (€16 bn so far) would be spent on clean mobility instead. For example for cycling, the study shows that with the money European governments have already earmarked for fuel tax cuts (price reductions at the pump), for the same cost 5.3 billion bike sharing trips or 194 million discounted bicyclescould be funded. Clean Cities Campaign "The smarter route towards oil independence: Effective and affordable alternatives to fuel tax cuts" was launched on 25 May, see press release here.  

The Clean Cities Campaign is a European coalition of NGOs and grassroots groups aiming to encourage cities to transition to zero-emission mobility by 2030. The campaign champions active, shared and electric mobility for a more liveable and sustainable urban future, which also requires phasing-out polluting vehicles from cities within a decade. The campaign is hosted by Transport & Environment.