Press release | 02.05.2022
City Cycling 2022 – Season kick-off in Greifswald, Germany
World's largest cycling campaign invites municipalities get on their bikes to promote cycling and climate action
Greifswald/Frankfurt am Main, 2 May 2022. The 2022 edition of Climate Alliance's international City Cycling campaign launched yesterday at Greifswald’s annual bicycle festival, hosted by the local utility company. Municipal politicians and citizens can now start earning kilometres for a 21-day period in promotion of cycling.
"When it comes to climate action, the mobility sector still has a lot of catching up to do in order to achieve Germany's climate protection goals. The bicycle is an indispensable component on the way to the necessary change in transport. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 13% of daily trips are already made by bicycle – a top figure in a nationwide comparison. Making our state even more attractive for cycling for both locals and guests and getting even more people on their bikes – that is our declared goal. That is why we are once again supporting our municipalities financially this year in their participation in City Cycling," explained Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Climate Minister, Till Backhaus, in the run-up to the event.
The 2022 campaign kick-off host Greifswald is once again joining forces with its sister cities Pomerode, Brazil and Newport News, USA to take part in City Cycling this year. For Greifswald's Mayor, Dr Stefan Fassbinder, internationality is a key aspect of climate action. "In fighting the climate crisis, we can only be successful together – this applies to the local as well as the global level. We are pleased to take part in City Cycling with our sister cities. Together, we can send an important signal for a sustainable mobility transition."
For André Muno, City Cycling’s manager, it is clear that a successful change in traffic patterns requires the appropriate cycling infrastructure. The campaign is providing municipalities with the necessary data again in 2022 via the City Cycling app. "Cycling data generated via the app's tracking function is anonymised and scientifically processed to make it usable for cycling planning," Muno explains. Thanks to funding from the German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport, municipalities throughout Germany can access this data free of charge for three years.
Last year, more than 800,000 people from 2,172 municipalities took part in City Cycling, cycling more than 160 million kilometres. Municipalities and cyclists worldwide can register for City Cycling 2022 through September.
City Cycling is an international campaign of the Climate Alliance and is supported by Ortlieb, ABUS, stadthelm.de, DB Connect, Busch + Müller, Paul Lange & Co., WSM and Schwalbe.
In the German Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the campaign is supported by the ADFC Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AGFK MV and the Ministry for Climate Action, Agriculture, Rural Areas and Environment.
FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACTS
Sebastian Reisch
CITY CYCLING Communications Manager, Climate Alliance
T. +49 69 7171 39 -76
s.reisch(at)climatealliance.org
Sarah Mekjian
Communications Director, Climate Alliance
T. +49 69 7171 39 -20
s.mekjian(at)climatealliance.org
CITY CYCLING
With its international City Cycling campaign, Climate Alliance invites all citizens and members of local parliaments to pedal and set an example for increased promotion of cycling. In teams, they are to collect as many bicycle kilometres as possible for their municipality on 21 consecutive days between May and September. The campaign aims to sensitise citizens to cycling in everyday life and to bring the issues of bicycle use and cycling planning more strongly into local parliaments. With the reporting platform RADar! and the project RiDE - Radverkehr in Deutschland (Cycling in Germany), which provides scientifically prepared cycling data to the participating municipalities, the campaign also includes two elements with which the cycling infrastructure can be improved in a very concrete way including the involvement of citizens. city-cycling.org
THE CLIMATE ALLIANCE
For over 30 years, Climate Alliance member municipalities have been acting in partnership with indigenous rainforest peoples for the benefit of the global climate. With nearly 2,000 members spread across more than 25 European countries, Climate Alliance is Europe's largest city network dedicated to comprehensive and equitable climate action. Each member city, town and district has committed itself to continually cut greenhouse gas emissions, aiming for a 95% reduction by 2050 (as compared to 1990 levels) in line with IPCC recommendations. Recognising the impact our lifestyles can have on the world's most vulnerable people and places, Climate Alliance pairs local action with global responsibility. climatealliance.org
