April 30, 2022 - Integrating cycling into Europe’s primary transport arteries – the TEN-T network – will help to cut emissions while reducing the EU’s dependence on foreign fossil fuels, writes Philip Amaral, the director of policy and development at the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF), in an opinion piece in Euractiv.
According to Amaral the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the EU’s primary network of roads, railway lines, inland waterways, ports, maritime shipping routes, airports and railroad terminals aligns with the ECF’s EuroVelo, a 90,000km network of 17 long-distance cycle routes that stretch across the continent. Integrating the two networks would benefit all users claims Amaral.
Investing in more cycling is a cheap and efficient way to reach the ambitious targets of the European Green Deal and decouple it from its massive fossil fuel dependency.
Cycling helps save more than 3 billion litres of fuel yearly in the EU, the equivalent of what a country like Ireland uses on all road transport in a year.
The heavily polluting transport sector would benefit massively from integrating a ready-made cycling network such as EuroVelo into its flagship transport policy says Amaral.
Read the full article here.
