Walking to work is WORSE for environment than car sharing because it makes you eat more leading to higher greenhouse emissions, new study finds
- New research suggests walking can produce more greenhouse gas than driving
- A walker needs as ‘fuel’ for the journey from food and this ups the footprint
- Cycling is shown to be more energy efficient than either driving or walking
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
It may have many health benefits including cutting the risk of catching coronavirus. But walking to work could produce more greenhouse gas than driving, a study has found.
The carbon footprint of producing the extra food a walker needs as ‘fuel’ for the journey would be more than that of a car travelling the same distance.
Researchers estimate that, in a country with high calorie diets such as the UK, walking for one kilometre would require food that would have generated around 0.26kg of carbon dioxide compared with 0.21kg of CO2 for the petrol used by a car.
The scientists, from Otago University in New Zealand and Oxford University, said a carshare scheme over short distances could produce less greenhouse gas than one person walking.
Walking to work could produce more greenhouse gas than driving, a fresh study has found
Cycling was more energy efficient than either.
Food is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the scientists calculate that in developed countries like the UK, eating extra food has a huge impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
Growing food requires a lot of energy to be used, for fertiliser, transport and packaging.
The information should be considered by companies or governments encouraging people to walk to work compared to other options.
The researchers said their study was the first attempt to look at the full picture of CO2 produced by different travel methods.
Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Anja Mizdrak, a research fellow from the University of New Zealand and colleagues write: ‘ Emissions from food required for walking and cycling are not negligible in economically developed countries which have high dietary-related emissions.’
Cycling is shown to be more energy efficient than either driving or walking, when it comes to the total carbon footprint created in the whole process
In a country with high calorie diets such as the UK, they estimate walking for 1km would require food to be grown that would have produced around 0.26kg of carbon dioxide compared to 0.21kg of CO2 for a car.
The authors write: ‘ Our study demonstrates that overall assessments of the emissions impact of transport interventions should consider emissions impacts associated with diets.
‘Taking account of walking and cycling emissions may suggest that car share schemes could have a bigger positive emissions impact than increasing walking, and (all else being equal) interventions that decrease vehicle use through increased cycling will have greater emissions benefts than those that increase walking.’