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Cycling worth €150 billion a year to the EU economy, says new report

The European Cyclists' Federation has crunched the numbers ahead of the EU budget...

Cycling is worth at least €150 billion a year to the economy of the European Union (EU), according to a new report from the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF).

Published ahead of the forthcoming Multiannual Financial Framework – more commonly referred to as the EU budget, and covering the seven-year period from 2021-27 – the ECF’s report, titled The Benefits of Cycling: Unlocking their Potential for Europe, urges the EU to draw up an integrated cycling strategy to maximise the benefits of cycling.

The €150 billion figure, covering all 28 current member states of the EU, is comprised not only of economic benefits directly derived from cycling, such as cycle tourism and the bicycle market, but also those in areas such as the environment, public health and transport. Here is how it breaks down.

Health makes up the biggest single component, with people leading longer and healthier lives worth €73 billion a year across the EU, and less absenteeism from the workplace providing an annual benefit of €5 billion.

Cycle tourism is worth €44 billion a year and the bicycle market €13.2 billion, while easing road congestion returns a benefit of €6.8 billion a year and saving on construction and maintenance costs for road infrastructure costs for motorised vehicles €2.9 billion.

As far as environmental benefits are concerned, CO2 emissions savings are valued at between €0.6 and €5.6 billion a year, reduction of air pollution a rather more precise €0.435 billion and reduction of noise pollution €0.3 billion.

The ECF, which highlights a recent European Commission study that quantified the negative costs to the environment, health and mobility from motorised road transport at €800 billion, said: “The benefits of cycling appear not only in specific, isolated fields like transport or environmental policy, but in many other areas where the EU has competences as well, like industrial policy, employment, health and social policy.

“This makes the case for an integrated EU Cycling Strategy that includes these fields and considers cycling in all relevant policy areas and will therefore enable the whole EU to reap the benefits of cycling.

“A large number of European countries still have a lot of potential to reach higher levels of cycling,” it continued.

“To increase the number of cyclists and decrease the negative externalities of motorised road transport, not only an integrated European policy framework, but also adequate funding is needed.

“With the next Multiannual Financial Framework coming up, the EU now has an excellent opportunity to increase the financial means available for promoting cycling in all relevant funding streams, including amongst others regional funding, research programmes, and support for SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises].

It added: “The benefits for all European citizens will be substantial.”

The full report can be found here.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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6 comments

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Pilot Pete | 5 years ago
1 like

Indeed, and the article actually says it does, “The €150 billion figure, covering all of the 28 current member States of the EU”

PP

Avatar
Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
0 likes

How about this for a stat

Taxation on motor vehicles, for instance, is worth €413 billion annually in the EU-15 member states alone – that is almost three times the total budget of the European Union!

and that was 2017. Cars ain't going nowhere and government likes it like that. Imagine all that tax money gone. That cycle registration and tax would be straight into legislation. 

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
4 likes

Rick_Rude wrote:

How about this for a stat

Taxation on motor vehicles, for instance, is worth €413 billion annually in the EU-15 member states alone – that is almost three times the total budget of the European Union!

and that was 2017. Cars ain't going nowhere and government likes it like that. Imagine all that tax money gone. That cycle registration and tax would be straight into legislation. 

I'm calling "broken window fallacy" on that!

If people don't have to pay car tax, they'll have more money to pay for other things and thus it's not necessary to keep cars around just for the tax (e.g. look at tax rates on electric cars). If we reduce the number of car journeys, then there will inevitably be less money spent on healthcare.

Rather than taking the capitalist approach of just looking at the monetary value of the tax, we need to be looking at the total costs/benefits to society comrade.

Avatar
Beatnik69 replied to Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
1 like

Rick_Rude wrote:

How about this for a stat

Taxation on motor vehicles, for instance, is worth €413 billion annually in the EU-15 member states alone – that is almost three times the total budget of the European Union!

and that was 2017. Cars ain't going nowhere and government likes it like that. Imagine all that tax money gone. That cycle registration and tax would be straight into legislation. 

I wonder how much road maintenance costs as well as other associated costs, such as distruption due to collisions, costs in terms of time due to congestion etc, across the EU annually and how that figure would compare with taxation on vehicles.

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
3 likes

"Cycling is worth at least €150 billion a year to the economy of the European Union "

With or without the UK?

Avatar
Organon replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

"Cycling is worth at least €150 billion a year to the economy of the European Union "

With or without the UK?

The UK is in the EU as far as I am aware.

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