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Uber and other ride-sharing apps have transformed the way people get around cities over the past decade, creating a new world of convenience. In addition to making it easier, cheaper and safer to get around, Uber has also been keen to promote the technology as an environmentally-friendly alternative to driving your own car – especially in cities where Uber’s car pooling service is available.
“More people in fewer, more efficient cars can mean less environmental impact per person,” the company says on its website. “And lower prices offer better access to affordable transit for people in rural and underserved areas, where existing infrastructure doesn’t reach.”
However a report published today suggests the surge in taxi apps like Uber is actually contributing to air pollution and climate change. Data compiled by Euromonitor for European research and campaign group Transport & Environment shows a correlation between the surge in the number of ride-share drivers in major European cities and increasing levels of air pollution.
“Uber’s CEO tells us they ‘do the right thing, period’ – but the reality is that Uber is part of the traffic and pollution problem, adding car trips in our cities and adding to the climate and pollution crisis,” says Yoann Le Petit, a mobility expert with T&E. “If it wants to become part of the solution Uber needs to stop using petrol and diesel cars and rapidly shift to 100% electric rides.”
Surge in vehicles
Registrations of cars for sharing, known as private hire vehicles (PHV), have surged in recent years. In France, which liberalised the taxi market in 2015, the number of reported PHV drivers doubled in three years, from more than 15,000 in 2016 to 30,000 in 2019. The number of Uber drivers alone in London almost doubled in three years, from 25,000 in 2016 to 45,000 in 2018, accounting for roughly half the total PHV licence number. This has made Uber one of the biggest taxi services in Europe, with 3.6 million users in London in 2019 and with 2.7 million users in France in 2017, according to the report.
Uber cars are not only replacing existing taxis, the report notes, because while taxi licenses are historically capped, PHV licenses are not. The growth can be seen when looking at traditional taxis and PHVs combined. Together the number of vehicles increased by 26% in London since Uber arrived. “This data strongly correlates with a 23% increase in overall CO2 emissions for the taxi and PHV sector in the UK in the same period,” T&E says.
The analysis estimates that in London and Paris alone, the emissions of Uber taxi services could be as high as half a megatonne of CO2. This is equivalent to adding the CO2 emissions of an extra 250,000 privately owned cars to the road. Like traditional taxis, PHVs have been predominately powered by fossil fuels. According to French government data for 2017 show, 90% of the registered PHVs that year were diesel cars. The high share of diesel in the PHV fleet can be also found in the traditional taxi market.
Transport & Environment
Though Uber typically makes up the largest proportion of these PHVs, they are not alone. Other companies such as Lyft are also driving this surge in taxis. Other analysis has suggested that because of the ease and lower cost factors, many people are using these ride-sharing apps as an alternative to public transport rather than an alternative to driving their own car or taking a taxi. In other words, Uber may be driving people away from public transport and into fossil fuel cars.
New electric Ubers
But change could be just around the corner. Uber has already announced a Clean Air Plan for London that is aiming to make every car on the app in London fully electric by 2025. In order to reach this goal, the company is adding a Clean Air Fee of 15 pence ($0.19) per mile to trips in London what will go towards supporting the driver’s move into an electric vehicle.
“We want to play our part in helping to make cleaner cities that can breathe more easily through reduced congestion, pollution and the need for private cars.” The company has also launched Uber electric bikes and scooters in key cities for users that would rather take a cleaner ride – although concerns have been raised about the climate impact of these share schemes as well.
Environmental campaigners want to push the ride-share companies to go further, faster. In response to the new data, a coalition of green NGOs in the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., the Netherlands and Belgium are launching a campaign on Thursday called “True Cost Of Uber”. The coalition will be lobbying cities to put requirements on these companies to clean up their fleets, and they want Uber to commit to making 100% of their vehicles electric in all large cities by 2025, not just London.
“Uber and Lyft aren’t fooling anyone anymore with their greenwashing,” says Rebekah Whilden, a campaign representative with the Sierra Club, part of the coalition. “Cities and countries around the world are beginning to see the companies for what they are: Corporate players putting profit over planet. You can’t claim sustainability if the data proves you’re doing the opposite— reducing transit ridership, worsening our air quality, and mistreating the people at the heart of your business model.”
Greg Archer, director of Transport & Environment UK, says Uber has only made its commitment in London because it was forced to do so by London’s clean air rules. “This proves that it is a financially viable option for the company. If it wasn’t, they would have pulled out of the [London] market already. So our question to Uber is: why not Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds? Are those second-class citizens? Are their lungs any different?”
Transport emissions represent more than a quarter of the European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions, and cars make up almost half of those transport emissions. Projections say that transport emissions will have to be reduced to zero by 2050 at the latest in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. This would mean that petrol or diesel cars should not be sold after 2035.
