How Does Walking Help Tackle Climate Change?

There are many actions we can take in our daily lives to try and combat climate change, but how does the way we travel fit into this? In this blog, we look at the importance of National Walking Month this May and how walking can help climate change!

May is National Walking Month

In May, we celebrate National Walking Month – which is a campaign to encourage people to get walking and enjoy the benefits it offers. Those who champion walking speak about the advantages it has for your heart, weight loss, lowering the risk of dementia, increasing your vitamin D intake, and the fact it can boost your mood and energy levels.

However, as well as being good for physical and mental health, walking is also great for the planet. We explore why walking can help fight climate change.

Understanding the role of transport in carbon emissions

It is estimated that transport accounts for approximately 16.2% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, including 11.9% of road transport. It is clear then that transport, particularly journeys in vehicles such as cars and lorries, is one of the factors contributing to the climate crisis.

With that in mind, we have been encouraged in recent years to be mindful of how we travel, with walking and cycling put forward as green alternatives, as well as car sharing and public transport. While it is ambitious to expect people to stop driving altogether, a shift towards encouraging walking when it is possible, rather than making smaller journeys in the car, can help to reduce overall emissions.

Daily global CO2 emissions decreased by 17% by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels, with just under half from changes in surface transport.

Although greener automotive technologies are now on the market, such as electric cars, and the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will come into effect in 2030, there are still things we can do in the meantime to reduce our transport emissions, and embracing walking is one of them!

The emissions from cars and other forms of transport are already having drastic consequences for human life. Air pollution in London (and other big cities) has become a massive problem. UK levels for two particularly harmful kinds of pollution are currently twice as high as the WHO recommends and air pollution from traffic was ruled as a cause of death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah in February 2013.

How can walking fight climate change?

All of this shows that we need to highlight walking as a viable alternative for those shorter journeys in order to reduce the emissions from road traffic that are contributing to climate change.

In 2020, for example, global lockdowns caused a temporary reduction in daily CO2 emissions. According to an article in Nature, daily global CO2 emissions decreased by 17% by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels, with just under half from changes in surface transport.

While the coronavirus pandemic has caused worldwide devastation, it has highlighted some important points about our lifestyles and how they are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Indeed, a recent study by Imperial College London found that swapping the car for walking or cycling just one day a week makes a significant impact on personal carbon emissions in cities.

Although we must all take personal responsibility, we believe it is important for governments around the world to encourage walking, not only for health but also as a way to lower emissions caused by transport.

To demonstrate your commitment to “active transport”, you can sign up to walking events to raise money for charity, such as those by WWF. Or, why not set a personal walking challenge for yourself? You might discover just how far you can travel and how much you can do without the need for your car!