E-bikes can save the earth

Scientists say: Consider the e-bike

The world’s big climate report landed last week with a thud, forcing all of us to confront just what the hell we’re doing. Everyone (including your very own Protocol Climate editor) spent time diving into the big-picture stuff: Renewables! Speculative carbon removal technology! We love a big climate solution, of course, but something else stood out in the report: the little ones.

We don’t demand enough of ourselves when it comes to fixing the climate. I don’t mean that in the Big Oil victim blame-y way (we see you, BP). I mean it in the "we can do this" way. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report shows using less energy is our secret climate change-fighting superpower. And the ways we can do that are pretty easy compared to, say, sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky with machines that barely exist. Call me crazy, but it feels like we should be talking about this more.

The case for fewer cars has never been clearer. Transportation is the biggest chunk of carbon pollution in the U.S. thanks to the American love of the automobile. Look, I love a good drive up the PCH as much as anyone. And I fully support more EVs on the road. But the IPCC also makes it clear that we have other means to cut individual carbon emissions.

• “Of the 60 actions we assessed in this report, on an individual level, the biggest contribution comes from switching to walking and cycling and using electrified transport,” Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, the vice chair for the new IPCC report, said.
• Indeed, going car-free is the best way for individuals to cut their carbon footprint.
• Switching to walking and biking alone would cut transportation carbon emissions up to 10%.

So, too, is the case for more e-bikes. OK, so we’ve established some very important ground rules here. More cars are bad. More bikes are good. I propose a new one: More e-bikes would be best.

• The IPCC notes that micromobility in the form of e-bikes, e-scooters and e-rickshaws (don’t laugh, they’re a big deal!) is where the electrified transit future is happening “rapidly.”
• That is a key trait when it comes to addressing climate change. Big Oil didn’t just go about victim-blaming. It has also spent decades lying about the climate crisis and fostering political gridlock, all while emissions rose. We’re at a major inflection point, one that requires unprecedented decarbonization speed.
• While the EV revolution is certainly picking up pace, electric cars and trucks are a tiny portion of global auto sales today. Waiting for that to pick up when there are a plethora of e-bikes already on the market and ready to get us around in no-carbon style seems foolhardy.
• Also let’s just be honest: E-bikes are cool as hell. I love biking in general, whether it’s a leisurely trip through Central Park or whizzing by suckers stuck in Midtown traffic. The only thing more satisfying than that feeling is whizzing by with an electric assist, courtesy of my local bikeshare e-bikes. I feel like I rule the world, and who doesn’t want that every day?

We should demand more from policymakers, too. If you, like me, would like to have this feeling of infinite power all the time, then it’s going to mean putting a little pressure on the powers that be. The IPCC is real about this, and we should be too: It’s going to take a wholesale overhaul of society to address climate change. When it comes to e-bikes becoming the norm, there are manifold ways to make that rapid transition even faster.

• Our cities need to suck less. A lot less. The IPCC notes that smart city planning could put e-bikes and e-scooters as a “centre-piece” (I know, so British) of a system that values no-carbon transport for the masses.
• That means turning more streets over to the people and not the cars. The IPCC calls this “fair street allocation.”
• It also means more dense developments, allowing people to get around on bikes in the first place. I’m lucky in New York, but not everyone else has the same ability to e-bike to the grocery store, work and their favorite bar (responsibly!). Fixing zoning would do wonders for e-bike adoption.
• Getting more bikeshares in more places is also a huge development. The IPCC notes that shared mobility, whether bikes or cars (sigh), is “arguably the most rapidly growing and evolving sector of the sharing economy.” Grow it some more!
• If you’d rather own your own e-bike, that’s fine, too. No shade. To ensure more people can afford them, companies could subsidize them for employees as part of their transit benefits — and some tech giants are already doing this. Congress could also step in by offering rebates.

In fact, Rep. Earl Blumenauer has tried to pass a bill that would do just that for years. He hasn’t succeeded — yet. The odds are long to pass the House, let alone the Senate where Sen. Joe Manchin and 50 Republicans have stood in the way of climate action. The IPCC alone surely won’t convince them, so I invite them all to join me on an e-bike sprint through Midtown anytime. Assuming they’re not too cowardly to accept, I’m confident they’ll see the future is already here: It just needs to be more evenly distributed.

— Brian Kahn (email | twitter)

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