Wuhan – Carbon Credit Scheme Bolsters Massive Bike-Share Program

Location: Wuhan, China

Population: 8,896,900 (urban area)

Climate: Humid subtropical

Duration: 2015 – currently

Sector: Transport

Funding sources: N/A

City networks: C40

Savings: The bike-share program will save 170,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year by 2018.

Solutions:  Wuhan has launched one of the world’s most extensive bike-sharing programs in an attempt to alleviate last-mile transportation issues while engaging locals through a pleasant and interactive carbon credit system.

Multiple benefits: Environmental, economic, social and health co-benefits.

Wuhan is the capital of China’s Hubei province and the most populated city in Central China. It’s a major transportation centre, with hundreds of trains, roads, and expressways running through it and connecting it to other large cities. Because of its importance in domestic transportation, Wuhan has been dubbed “the Chicago of China” by Western publications (source).

Objective – To assist reduce increased reliance on motor vehicles and associated emissions while also addressing last-mile transportation and increasing citizen engagement through the carbon credit system.

Solutions – Since 2015, Wuhan has implemented one of the world’s largest bike-sharing initiatives, placing 20,000 bikes at 856 stations. By 2018, 80,000 bicycles and 3,160 stations are expected to be built around the city. The new system is connected with other modes of public transportation in the city. As a bonus, the stations include charging facilities for electric vehicles, further promoting green mobility. Daily rides increased from more than 1,000 during the trial period to around 80,000 in May 2016, totalling 15 million rides since the program’s inception.

The project also includes integrating a carbon credit scheme, through which individual CO2 reductions of bike-sharing users are computed based on average riding speed and other criteria, and transformed into a carbon credit, registered to specific users, is a unique component of the system.

Funding – N/A

Innovation – One of the scheme’s unique aspects is the possibility to utilize the credit to acquire small personal commodities and services, such as movie tickets, or to offset additional carbon emissions.

Success factors: The new system is connected with other modes of public transportation in the city to improve connection.

Significant outcomes:

• The annual CO2 emissions reduction achieved by the bike-share program is 25,000 tons;
• Users can save money on transportation because the first hour of bike use is free, and most bike excursions last less than an hour.

Synergies with local policies:

• Wuhan Integrated Transport Development. The Wuhan Integrated Transport Development Project for China’s development goal is to increase transportation mobility in the municipalities of Wuhan and Anlu;
• Wuhan: Climate Action Plan Educates Next Generation. Wuhan has set a goal of peaking emissions ahead of Chinese targets and has put a significant emphasis on education and school administration to generate a generational change in carbon emissions;
• Wuhan Carbon Peaking Action Plan 2017-2022. The Plan intends to accelerate the city’s green and low-carbon development and encourage the city’s carbon emissions to peak by 2022. One of the goals is to implement a life-based low-carbon project by promoting low-carbon mobility.

Political alignment:

• New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan. Between 2021 and 202, the Plan seeks to support the development of electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicles in the country [source];
• New Energy Vehicle Promotion Subsidy Plan provides government support for vehicle electrification from 2020 to 2022, including public transit and urban public transportation [source];
• Energy Development Strategy Action Plan (2014-2020). Its purpose is to reduce China’s high energy consumption per unit Gross domestic product (GDP) ratio through a series of initiatives and required targets to encourage more efficient, self-sufficient, green, and innovative energy production and consumption [source].

Marketability: N/A