THE EU Cycling Economy

Authors: ECF- European Cycling Federation

Year: 2016

Publisher: ECF- European Cycling Federation

This report is ECF’s second calculation of the internal and external benefits of cycling linked to the current level of cycling in the EU-28. It is an extended and updated version of the first report published in 2013. The calculations have been updated with the latest available figures; in some cases, the methodologies for calculating the benefits have been refined taking into account the feedback received; and more benefits have been added in a systematic way, following the development of the active mobility agenda during the last years. In some areas, we have identified benefits of cycling but were not able to give any calculation or estimation yet. More qualitative and quantitative research is needed in those fields to quantify these benefit. The aim of this report is therefore also to encourage further research on the subject in order to draw a more precise picture of the economic benefits of cycling in the future. The present report clearly shows the benefits of the Active Mobility Agenda not only for further research, but also for well-structured advocacy and agenda setting in policy. In particular for the European policy cycling appears 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 if cycling in the future.