Over three tonnes of carbon saved during Warwickshire County Council’s Cycle September 2022

by Adrian Tatum

Cyclists across Warwickshire have saved over 3,000kg of carbon this September when they got on their bikes and chose active travel for work and leisure.

Warwickshire County Council recently joined the Love to Ride family of partner organisations, giving residents, businesses and community groups access to the best rewards and resources that encourage cycling for travel, not just leisure.

Cycle September is Love to Ride’s global bike-riding event, bringing together riders of every level to promote the benefits of bicycles. The campaign is a great opportunity for communities, businesses and individuals to engage in a fun challenge that will help them meet their health, wellness, and sustainability goals, said the council.

Throughout the month of September, the following was recorded on the Love to Ride Platform:

*442 cyclists took part across 35 Warwickshire-based workplaces;
*Cyclists taking part recorded 60,002 miles across 4662 individual trips; and
*Collectively saved 3293 (3.3 tonnes) of Carbon compared to the same journeys being taken by car.

The Love to Ride platform creates leaderboards of workplaces taking part in Cycle September that are based on the size of the individual organisations. The final results for the month were:

*2000+ Staff – The University of Warwick.
*500 – 1999 Staff – Dassault Systemes Uk Limited.
*200 – 499 Staff – Wright Hassall Solicitors.
*50 – 199 Staff – Focus Solutions Group.
*20 – 49 Staff – The Warwickshire Police Harm Prevention Unit.
*7 – 19 Staff – Baader UK Ltd.
*1 – 6 Staff – Cadence Design Systems.

Cycling staff from Warwickshire County Council, which came second in the 2000+ Staff category:

*logged 215 rides;
*cycled 2,499 miles; and
saved 132kg of C02.

Cllr Wallace Redford, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Transport and Planning, said: “The benefits of active travel, particularly travelling by bike, are huge, both for the individual and for our wider environment.

“For many of us, it might seem difficult, and perhaps daunting, to know where to start as travelling by car, even for short journeys, has become so engrained in our daily lives.

“We are committed to supporting residents to realise that they can start their active travel adventure by switching just one car journey every week to an active alternative such as cycling and we hope that this new partnership with Love to Ride will offer residents a fun and engaging way to get into cycling and encourage their friends, family and colleagues to get on their bikes too.

“I would like to say thanks to all the cyclists and workplaces who took part in Cycle September and a big well done to those workplaces who came top of their respective leaderboards for the month.”

Warwickshire County Council recently launched the #JustOneJourney campaign to encourage residents to ditch their cars and make the switch to active travel. Find out more about that here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/3068/helping-residents-to-switch-justonejourney-and-ditch-the-car-for-an-active-travel-alternative