The Australian government has embarked on planning to reduce Australia’s excessive transport CO2 emissions down to our ambitious Net Zero target by 2050.
So far most of the focus has been on the electrification of the motor car fleet. A big task – slow, unpredictable, and expensive.
Little thought has been given to the how that other electric vehicle – the e-bike – can contribute to the task by moving us to lower emission transport faster, cheaper, and simpler.
Now Australia’s bike riders have a one-time opportunity to correct this policy misstep and make active travel central to our emissions reduction agenda.
The Department of of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development has gone out to public consultation on the Net Zero Roadmap and Action Plan – the strategy it will use to reduce transport emissions and wants your input.
Check out the webpage and make a submission here.
You can download and read the full consultation road map, or a shorter summary. You can take a survey, ask questions and make a submission.
Australia's transport sector is the third largest source of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to 21% of national emissions in 2023. Since 2005, transport sector greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 19% and are currently projected to be the largest in Australia by 2030.
Another way of looking at it is to see that this sector provides the biggest opportunities for CO2 reductions and can make the biggest contribution to meeting climate goals.
The draft road map does say some reassuring things about the role of active and public transport in reducing emissions, but clearly these issues are in the department's peripheral vision.
While it recognises that e-bikes are a major technical innovation, it misses the obvious point that they are an electric vehicle and should sit within the EV policy framework for light vehicles and be supported through the transition – just as electric cars are.
By financially incentivising and encouraging the uptake of e-bikes in the community we can start emissions reductions sooner, advance faster and spend far less public money getting there.
A modern multi-purpose e-bike can replace a car for most local trips and many commutes. It can drop the children off at childcare, get you to the office, and then load up with household essentials on the way back.
It can do so with simple and safe domestic charging technology that doesn’t need millions spent on charging stations. It can do so with batteries that are tiny compared to the enormously heavy and expensive battery the electric cars drag around on every trip.
The public is wide open to this transport revolution, with thousands turning up to a recent demo day staged by Bicycle Network in Melbourne.
National and state governments could score a big, early win by embracing this shift, defining e-bikes as a subset of vehicles in the National Electric Vehicle Strategy, and working to make them more affordable to more Australians.
Read more about e-bikes on our campaign page.
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