Active travel for decarbonisation
This month, every national, state and territory bicycle organisation in Australia came together to provide a critical submission to the Australian Government on the importance of cycling in our transport decarbonisation efforts.
Our submission in response to the Climate Change Authority’s issues paper ‘Targets, Pathways and Progress’ represents the combined voice of all our organisations who represent 141,500 members and the 9.52 million Australians who rode a bike in 2023.
The submission recognises the urgent need to decarbonise our economy, starting with our highly emitting transport sector highlighting our concern with the current lack of consideration of active transport in the transport decarbonisation discourse in Australia.
Together, we made it clear that Australia has the opportunity to rapidly transition to a low-emissions transport system if public and active transport – walking and cycling – receive a significant boost in funding and support.
Countries across in Europe, Asia and beyond have ramped up investment in active transport modes and are experiencing the environmental, equity, accessibility and affordability benefits.
Our submission identified the benefits of Australia learning from international success stories to inform our transport decarbonisation roadmap.
The submission is tendered on behalf of the following Australian bicycle organisations: AusCycling, Bicycle Network, Bicycle NSW, Bicycle QLD, Bike SA, Pedal Power ACT, WeRide and WestCycle.
This article is an edited version of the one published by WeRide on 22 May 2024.
