Your ride to carbon neutral
Bikes are good by nature, but each bike that is manufactured has a carbon impact. Our partners at Trek have just released their annual Sustainability Report (2023) in which they look at emissions of their manufacturing process and ways to improve this.
Reports like this have encouraged Trek to analyse and make changes to its processes. For example, Trek clothing now contains fabrics made from recycled plastic water bottles and textile waste, which would otherwise be landfill material.
What is more...Trek has used detailed independent analysis to review how each of their bikes and components are made, to understand individual model and component-level emissions. Understanding this is the first step to knowing where to make manufacturing and supply chain improvements to reduce the carbon footprint of each bike made. While Trek is continuing to improve its processes, this work has also provided a handy guide for what it would take on average for a cyclist to offset the carbon footprint of their newly purchased bike.
Trek uses a rule of 430 to describe this carbon offset formula. 430 refers to the 430 miles it takes to ride instead of driving, and offset the carbon of a newly purchased bike.
What we have done here is put that in metric for you:
An average Trek bike emits 174kg of CO2 in the manufacturing/supply process.
1 litres of petrol emits 2.339 kg of CO2.
The average vehicle travels 9.263km per litre of petrol.
174kg x 9.263km / 2.339kg = 689kms
It is possible to offset the carbon cost of your bike by replacing 689 driving kilometres with riding kilometres.
If you are looking for places to ride to and people to ride to with your new bike, and help the environment, drop in to MC for a chat and a guide. We would love you to ride with us!
