New research commissioned by the Bicycle Association (BA) shows that cycling’s contribution to meeting the Mayor’s net zero 2030 target for London could generate 25,000 new, green jobs and £5 billion a year of economic value in London’s ‘Bicycle Economy’. LCC is now working with the BA to highlight the economic, employment and environmental benefits of growing the bicycle economy to leaders and decision makers across London.
Transport is the single biggest source of London’s carbon emissions. Decarbonising London’s roads, as called for by LCC’s Climate Safe Streets campaign, is therefore critical to meeting the Mayor’s goal of a net zero London by 2030. This new research, undertaken by independent consultancy Transport for Quality of Life, shows that cycling in London will need to grow from 2% at present to around 14% to help meet this goal. The exciting news, announced today, is that achieving this growth will not only help London hit net zero, further clean up the capital’s air, and help Londoners lead more active lives, but will also bring the added bonus of 25,000 new, green jobs and almost £5 billion p.a. in economic value across London’s ‘Bicycle Economy’.
CEO of the London Cycling Campaign, Dr Ashok Sinha said:
“London is showing strong leadership by targeting net zero carbon status by 2030. A large-scale shift to cycling from private car use is essential to achieving this. This must-read research shows that investing in high quality cycling infrastructure will not only enable this shift, but generate a huge number of new, green, career opportunities, especially for the most disadvantaged Londoners. It will also help create new business opportunities that will help revitalise London’s hard hit high streets.”
Simon Irons, the Bicycle Association’s Market Data Service Director, said:
“By 2030 it’s not just the positive environmental benefit of net zero which will be dramatic – but the economic benefit too. Our market data is probably the best of any cycling market in the world – tracking nearly a million cycling products and services every month. We’ve used this data to help forecast how big the bicycle economy would be when London becomes a zero carbon city. We want to share this information with Londoners to show just how economically valuable cycling is. Then we want to do the same for every region of England and the devolved nations.”
Find out more
For further information on this story read the Bicycle Association's press release and the full report
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