We often think about cycling as a sustainable activity or mode of transportation. However, what about the popular pro-cycling events themselves? There are many factors involved in the planning and execution of these large-scale cycling events that can have unseen – and unrealized – environmental impacts.
At NZero, we had the honor of partnering with Škoda Tour Luxembourg to track the carbon cost of their 2022 event. For five days, we captured the emissions impact of the race across all three scopes, gathering data via meters and questionnaires completed by the event organization, its vendors, and the pro-cycling teams. In the spirit of friendly competition, one pro-cycling team was awarded the NZero Hero award for the lowest carbon impact.
From tracking and analyzing all this data, we uncovered some fascinating findings - all of which help identify decarbonization opportunities for future cycling events.
Top Emissions Sources
After tracking emissions across cycling teams, suppliers, and vendors, we discovered that the total GHG emissions for the 5-day event was 91.1 MT CO2e, which is equivalent to driving about 226,000 miles in a passenger car, or 9 trips around the world!*