Thread by @AukeHoekstra

I read it more frequently recently:
bike riding emits more CO2 than an electric car.

And it's true, kind of.
But not really.

If you include the fact that humans have to live an preferably move anyway it becomes untrue. (Short thread.)

First of all, @Mike_Page is right that electric motors are actually more efficient at turning calories into motion than humans. So if we would replace heavy electric trucks with an army of cyclists, this would indeed not be good for the climate and require too much food.

Second of all, I think it's probably true when you compare an electric bike to a car but the 30g/km for a vegan like me is clearly less than for an electric car (~50g/km for manufacturing plus ~40g/km for driving in the EU) and you have to add my CO2 emissions as car driver.

Finally I'm pretty sure the avoided healthcare costs and other societal costs that result from switching from car to bike outweigh the CO2 emissions from biking, both in terms of costs and CO2.

The only thing you could say is that biking is healthy and if that means you live longer, your total CO2 emissions rise. But if you say a person should not bike for that reason I consider you to be 'off the reservation' as they say.