As part of ITDP’s global Cycling Cities campaign and with support from the FIA Foundation, this new report finds that networks of protected bicycle lanes in middle-income cities reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower transport costs, and prevent premature fatalities in a highly cost-effective way. By collecting and comparing new data from two very different cities, this report provides the first empirical evidence directly linking bicycle infrastructure to cutting carbon in middle-income cities. It also provides a tool (Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) that anyone can use to predict the impacts of a protected bicycle lane network in any city.

Of critical importance to achieving the projected greenhouse gas emissions is the quality of a city’s cycle infrastructure — whether cycle lanes are connected to one another within a network and adequately protected from street traffic. This report provides critical evidence to encourage development banks and local and national decision makers to invest in, and scale, more protected cycling infrastructure as a critical climate solution.

Watch the Protected Bike Lanes Protect the Climate webinar >>