What the COP? - a few thoughts on Transport Presidency theme
I arrived in Glasgow for COP26 in style. With over 200 people from Edinburgh and a whole heap of whooping, cheering and bike-bell dinging.
On Saturday 6th November, I took part in my first ever mass demo bike ride ‘Pedal on COP’ which had feeder rides from across Scotland arrive in Glasgow for the Global Day of Action. This was not your typical peloton of cyclists. The organisers’ made it as accessible as possible and the riders included families with young children, people with disabilities (including the amazing Vie Velo - a tandem club pairing visually impaired riders with sighted ones on social rides) and loads of people that would never have felt safe enough to do a cycle like this otherwise. Including me.
Credit: Mike Elm
One of the deliberate focuses of mass rides is to use main routes (not cycle paths) to show the desperate need for better cycling infrastructure. As humans (who also ride bikes sometimes) we urgently need safer and more accessible routes for people of all ages and abilities to use. Given that one of the main slogans used was ‘This Machine Fights Climate Change’ you might reasonably expect cycling to feature prominently in COP26 discourse. And well, you would be sorely disappointed.
The headline event for the Transport Presidency theme focussed on zero emissions vehicles and there was no mention of cycling, active travel or public transport in the other events either. You don’t need to be a rocket (or any sort of scientist) to suss out that zero emissions vehicles actually do have emissions - and - a cost.
I don’t even mean the exorbitant price, which makes them simply unaffordable for the masses, especially young people. I mean the hidden, but very real cost, of modern day slavery and toxic pollution caused whilst extracting rare minerals. Depressingly it's also the tyre wear, and the resulting air pollutants (which are damaging to human health) are even projected to increase with electric vehicles. The narrative that we can simply switch petrol or diesel cars for electric cars is grossly oversimplified and harmful.
Looking forward, active travel and public transport must be the simplest, most convenient, safe and attractive option. That’s where policymakers must focus their transport attention. As consumers, and citizens, we can often choose options which align with the sort of world we want to live in. We might have limited influence over the COP presidency themes but many of us do have influence over the choices we make to move around right now.
If, like me, you have been left deflated and confused by the focus of yesterday, I wanted to share three transport highlights that I know of in Scotland which we can be excited about:
Cargo bike movement - shifting hearts, minds & other stuff by cargo bike in Edinburgh
Ember - UK's first all-electric, intercity bus service
Lumo - a new high-speed electric train service travelling down the east coast of the UK from Edinburgh to London
Lastly, and this one is wheely important, if you’ve got a bike, or access to one, why not check out your local critical mass bike ride because clearly the world leaders’ missed the quick win cycling memo. I might see you there!