The COP 31 Bike Ride international relay will formally deliver to the Portuguese Government ten proposals to promote the use of bicycles in climate protection. On Sunday, June 28, in Oeiras, the Minister of the Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, will personally receive the proposals from this international citizenship initiative, according to a statement.
According to the same source, the testimony boarded a sailboat in Brazil, stopped in the City of Horta, in the Azores, and will arrive at the Oeiras Recreational Port where – after being handed to the minister and to the president of the City Council, and from them to the cyclists – it will continue by bicycle to Antalya, in Turkey, to be discussed further at the 31st COP, from November 9 to 20.
The Lisbon and Tagus Valley Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-LVT) has already challenged the region’s 52 municipalities to adopt by 2030 the ten cycling promotion measures that are in transit between COP Brazil and COP Turkey. Isaltino Morais, president of the Oeiras City Council, will announce on the same occasion measures to strengthen cycling in the municipality’s sustainability programs. He will also launch the 3rd edition of COP Oeiras Valley, an environmental initiative carried out with high school students.
“We call on Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho to publicly endorse the Government’s adherence to the COP Bike Ride proposals, since there is broad consensus in Portuguese society on this matter,” says António Gonçalves Pereira, of Ecomood /Climate Alliance Portugal, ambassador of the European Climate Pact and coordinator of the initiative in Portugal. “Contemporary citizenship demands, increasingly, the conditions for using bicycles and other forms of gentle mobility.”
75% of trips are less than five kilometers
This initiative is promoted by an international group of citizens and, in Portugal, by the European Climate Pact, by several municipalities and other entities, coordinated by Ecomood Portugal. Beginning in Belém do Pará, Brazil, and with the European start at the Oeiras Recreational Port, COP 31 Bike Ride will be the largest climate bicycle relay ever, involving around ten thousand activists from more than 20 countries. COP Bike Ride is a global citizen-driven initiative that consists of pedaling from one COP to the next, with the aim of promoting bicycle use and, thus, helping to reduce CO2 emissions.
Last year, the relay from Azerbaijan to Brazil crossed Portugal and delivered the Letters of Commitment addressed to COP 30 to 60 regions and municipalities, of which nine were Portuguese. The organization’s goal this year is to surpass this number, as well as the number of Portuguese participants pedaling to help accelerate the role of bicycle use in decarbonization.
“If quotas for public transport, walking and cycling reached 80% of trips in our cities, emissions would be 50% lower,” says António Gonçalves Pereira. According to the European Climate Pact ambassador, “as 75% of trips in cities have less than five kilometers, many more people should have the conditions to ride a bicycle and about half of urban deliveries could be made by cargo bicycles instead of vans.”
The official handover of the testimony from the sailboat to the cyclists at the Oeiras Recreational Port will take place at 10:00 on Sunday, June 28. The proposals officially delivered to Maria da Graça Carvalho, Minister of the Environment and Energy, request the creation of continuous networks of bike lanes, integration with public transport, secure bicycle parking, and promotion of cargo bikes.
At 12:00 the COP 31 Bike Ride international relay will have its official start, with the first stop to be at the Oeiras Move Mobility Kiosk in Algés. After a lunch offered to the international participants, the relay will depart at 14:30 toward Lisbon. (see poster attached)
The COP Bike Ride proposals are inspired by the concept “Walk-Cycle-Stroll” (WCR, in English). They propose completing a basic structural network of bike lanes in every city by 2030, especially with inter-municipal and multimodal connectivity for daily travel. It is also recommended to significantly increase areas dedicated to bicycles and pedestrians, which should pass near schools, public transport hubs, local shops, and green spaces.
The measures also recommend training of children under 12 and women, to enable more efficient and widespread bicycle usage in society. It is also recommended to develop cargo bike logistics to be used for deliveries in the “last mile”.
The complete eight-day program in Portugal and the most up-to-date information are here
