Work

The potential of bicycle commuting to reduce carbon emissions in Finland

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: There is an increasing amount of evidence that cycling is an effective way to decarbonise everyday mobility. The potential of cycling is however less well understood in cold climates, where seasonal weather conditions are seen as a major obstacle. This work explores the potential of cycling to substitute for car use on commute trips in Finland. A binary logistic regression model is first built based on national travel survey data to describe cycling behaviour on home-work trips according to trip distance, hilliness, temperature, snow cover, gender of the cyclist, car availability, and city region. This model is then used to quantify cycling uptake scenarios and estimate cycled mileage, replaced car travel, and climate emission reductions. E-bike scenarios are also explored. The results indicate that it would be possible to set ambitious targets for cycling uptake, even doubling the mileage cycled, leading to non-negligible emission reductions.

Source: PLoS ONE

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0335010

Authors: Emilia Suomalainen, Marko Tainio

Institutions: Finnish Environment Institute, Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Urban Transport and Accessibility

Subfield: Transportation

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Sustainable cities and communities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,382