Study: Cycle like the Danes and cut emissions

In same week as Danish cycling culture touted as means to reduce carbon emissions, an environmental organisation reveals how Road Cycling World Championship led to massive drop in city pollution levels

Encouraging Europeans to cycle as much as the Danes could dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption, a new study by the European Cyclist’s Federation (ECF) has shown.

The key findings suggested that if all Europeans cycled the 2.6 kilometers a day that Danes do on average, it would achieve 26 percent of the target set by the EU for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, while also reducing oil imports by 10 percent.

“If we’re serious about meeting these targets we’re going to have to change our behavior,” one of the study’s authors, Benoit Blondel from the ECF, wrote in a press release. “It’s not about moving less. It’s about the way we move, and the transport choices governments make available.”

The EU wants to reduce transport emissions in 2050 by 60 percent, but according to the Copenhagen-based European Environment Agency, increased fuel efficiency and technological improvements would not be enough to reach the target alone.

The ECF suggests that encouraging people to cycle would be a cheap and simple way to reduce transport emissions compared with other alternatives.

“The potential for cycling to achieve these targets is huge,” Blondel added. “Getting more people on bikes is going to be a lot cheaper than say getting more electric cars on the road”.

Getting people out of their cars and on to bicycles could also reduce localised pollution in cities a Danish environmental organisation has demonstrated.

The organisation, Miljøpunkt Indre By-Christianshavn, measured air pollution in central Copenhagen during the Road Cycling World Champions this August, when the area was blocked off to 60,000 vehicles that normally enter the city each day.

Taking measurements from a variety of locations around the city, the organisation recorded a 30 percent drop in air pollution in the week that the city was blocked to traffic.

While it is hoped the proposed congestion zone could also lower vehicle numbers and pollution levels in the city, Steen Solvang Jensen, from the National Center for Environment and Energy, told Urban newspaper that the effect would be limited.

“A reduction in the number of cars by 20 percent would only reduce the cars’ contribution to air pollution by about half of that. That’s because a congestion zone would deter commuter vehicles the most, and they tend to be the least polluting types of vehicles,” Jensen said.

“Businesses still have to distribute goods and the charge won’t mean much to them so they’ll pay it, while commuters will move to alternative transport such as trains and buses.”




  • The internationals who created an app to make friends in Denmark  

    The internationals who created an app to make friends in Denmark  

    A team of young internationals has created an app that is helping their peers connect and build friendships in Denmark, addressing the challenges of social integration.

  • New documentary stirs debate in Denmark and Greenland 

    New documentary stirs debate in Denmark and Greenland 

    The documentary Greenland’s White Gold, reveals the worth of cryolite mining in Greenland to be in the billions. Over the years its value has been undermined, despite it acting like a gold mine for the Danish state. 

  • Today is 10 years from Copenhagen terrorist attack

    Today is 10 years from Copenhagen terrorist attack

    On February 14 and 15, the last terrorist attack took place in Denmark. Another episode occurred in 2022, but in that case, there was no political motive behind it

  • Enter Christiania: how the Freetown works

    Enter Christiania: how the Freetown works

    We all know Christiania and have been there at least once. But how does the Freetown work? How are decisions made? Can a person move there? Is there rent or bills to pay? British journalist Dave Wood wrote a reportage on Christiania for The Copenhagen Post.

  • The struggles of Asian women in Denmark’s labour market

    The struggles of Asian women in Denmark’s labour market

    Isha Thapa unfolds her research “An Analysis on the Inclusivity and Integration of South Asian Women in High-Skilled Jobs within the Danish Labor Market”. Thapa describes the systemic and social challenges these women face, ranging from barriers in social capital to cultural integration.

  • Parents in Denmark reject social media monitoring 

    Parents in Denmark reject social media monitoring 

    Most parents in Denmark reject using social media parental controls despite knowing about them. A new study questions the effectiveness of these tools in ensuring children’s online safety.