Seven hundred million tonnes per year… That's the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the equivalent of Canada's annual emissions, that we could emit less, on a global scale, if everyone moved cycling every day like the Dutch do.

At least this is the estimate reached by an international team of researchers in a study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

The transport sector accounts for a quarter of all current greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming, and global demand for transport is expected to triple by the middle of the century.

The number of bicycles sold exceeds that of cars

Half of these emissions now come from cars whose number of sales is closely monitored, unlike those of bicycles.

These researchers have compiled the world's first database of bicycle ownership and use, in 60 countries, since the early 1960s.

According to the authors, over the period 1962-2015, the number of bicycles produced exceeded that of cars.

And China accounted for nearly two-thirds of the more than 123 million bicycles manufactured in 2015.

In the 60 countries studied, the share of bicycle use for daily trips was only 5% on average.

In some countries, such as the United States, the number of bicycles is high, but their owners tend to consider cycling more as a leisure activity than as a mode of daily transport, and short trips are often made by car.

2.6 kilometers per day, the average daily distance of the Dutch.

But if everyone cycled an average of 1.6 kilometers per day, the daily average distance of Danes, the world would reduce CO2 emissions by some 414 million tonnes per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of the Great Britain, according to the researchers' calculations.

With 2.6 kilometers of journeys made by bicycle per day, as in the Netherlands, emissions could be reduced by 686 million tonnes per year, without counting the benefits for health and for the improvement of air quality.

Do not boil it all down to the electrification of cars

Gang Liu, lead author of the study and a professor in the department of green technologies at the University of Southern Denmark, told AFP that the main interest of the study is that it shows that cycling has a role important to play in reducing the carbon footprint of transport -- as the debate tends to focus on the electrification of cars.

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