Moving the needle

Shift Cycling Culture has released its first Climate Action Pulse Check, highlighting the progress and challenges in the cycling industry’s climate efforts. Here are some of the key findings.

Shift Cycling Culture is a non-profit organisation dedicated to accelerating climate action in the cycling world. The 2024 Climate Action Pulse Check is the first edition of Shift Cycling Culture’s global survey, showcasing how companies in the cycling sector are integrating climate action into their strategies and how these efforts are perceived by the cycling community.

It gathered insights from 84 industry professionals across 16 countries and 240 cycling consumers from 19 countries. The aim of this annual report is to enhance transparency, drive action, and further support the industry’s collective efforts in reducing its environmental impact.

Each industry participant receives a personalised benchmark report that compares their company’s progress with others.

Key findings of the 2024 Pulse Check include: 

• • 80% of industry representatives report that their companies are taking a strategic approach to climate action, with 35% having made considerable progress and being able to track their results.
• • Industry professionals are generally more optimistic about sustainability efforts compared to cyclists, many of whom feel that climate action should be a higher priority for the industry.
• • A significant 77% of cycling consumers have switched brands due to sustainability concerns. They place the highest value on product longevity and repairability.
• • Many companies are concentrating on using materials with a lower climate impact, and engaging the supply chain is seen as a crucial way to scale climate action throughout the industry.
• • Up to 87% of industry representatives recognise real benefits from their climate efforts beyond just reducing emissions. These benefits include product innovation, increased employee motivation, legal compliance, and the development of new business models.
• • Common obstacles faced include a lack of resources, regulations, knowledge, and support from management.
• • 61% of industry representatives are involved in collaborations that focus on climate and sustainability issues.

Shift’s take on the 2024 Climate Action Pulse Check

“Diving deep into the results of this first Climate Action Pulse Check with our team was both inspiring and uplifting,” says a representative from the organisation. Just like the industry representatives that have taken the survey, we feel optimistic about the progress that has been made. And just like the cyclists, we feel that so much more still needs to be done.”

Launched in 2021, the Shift Cycling Culture Climate Commitment provided a crucial starting point in the cycling industry. More than 80 companies committed to measuring and reducing their climate impacts in line with the Paris Agreement and global goal to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Two years later, in 2023, Shift introduced the Climate Action Roadmap, an open-source self-assessment tool designed to guide organisations from ambition to action.

The annual Climate Action Pulse Check is seen as a tool to monitor the progress of the industry in these areas.

“Only a few years ago, when we launched the Climate Commitment with a group of progressive CEOs in 2021, very few companies in the global cycling industry were actively measuring and reducing their climate impact,” adds the Shift team.

“Now, only three years later, 64% of responding Climate Commitment signatories have delivered against their pledge, 80% of industry representatives report that their companies are taking a strategic approach to climate action, and 35% have made considerable headway and are able to track their results.

“How’s that for progress?”

But it’s the future that drives the non-profit and many of the companies who have joined the journey. Shift Cycling Culture needs more brands and their suppliers to step up, start measuring their impact and become transparent about their efforts.

“We want to support more companies to rethink how their products are designed, and how their businesses are run,” they conclude.

“And we hope to see more cyclists leveraging their power as consumers, pushing the industry forward, as real impact happens when bikes and apparel become more durable and longer lasting, easier to maintain and repair, and are made of circular materials.”

The full free report was released last month and can be downloaded at: shiftcyclingculture.com.