Annual carbon emissions for a five-mile London work journey
17.06.2024
Written by Melanie de Wet
Associate Director Transport
Grab your bike, London
You’re looking at your building’s operational and embodied carbon.
But have you looked at your transport-related carbon emissions?
Transport carbon is the emissions from travelling to and from your building (private travel and operational vehicles such as deliveries and refuse collection).
Depending on factors such as location and public transport accessibility, it can represent a significant part of your project’s emissions.
Responsible for over 35% of emissions, transport is the largest contributor to the UK’s emissions.
How we travel matters
How we travel as individuals can make a difference — especially in cities where sustainable modes of travel are readily available.
That’s why we looked at London.
We analysed the annual carbon (tonnes of CO2e) emissions emitted for a 5-mile journey to work across six modes of transport:
- Waking and cycling
- Motorcycle (using medium petrol)
- Car (using medium petrol)
- Bus
- Underground
- Train
Five takeaways
- Walking and cycling emit the lowest amount. Car travel emits the most.
- Car travel emits over two times more than bus and six times more than the underground.
- The more you travel, the higher your impact.
- The further you travel, the higher your impact.
- Transport matters. The way we choose to travel as individuals matters. The way organisations incentivise sustainable modes of travel matters.
I’m grabbing my bike, London. How about you?
