Bike Sharing: Truly Environment-friendly?
On a normal morning in any Chinese city,
people might unlock a blue or yellow shared bike with a quick scan of their phones.
It seems like an ordinary choice for commuting.
However, these bikes actually connect to a much larger debate about sustainability.
This convenient service has both merits and hidden costs.
E: A Double-Edged Sword to the Environment
Positively, bike-sharing contributes to obvious carbon reductions. A 2026 study found that the entry of bike-sharing platforms reduces monthly per capita CO₂ emissions by 0.60% on average [1].
The 2022 report by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment indicates that a single shared bike achieves a net carbon reduction of over 500 kg throughout its entire lifecycle. Internationally, bike-sharing services save approximately 46,000 tons of CO₂ emissions each year and reduce air pollutants by 200 tons of harmful emissions in Europe [3].
However, the shared bikes are far from entirely green. Research published on ResearchGate reveals that the full lifecycle carbon footprint of one shared bike is 34.56 kg CO₂, and a bike must be used for at least 686 days to achieve net positive emission reduction, which requires such long-term maintenance[4]! The problem of abandoned bikes is equally serious. If a bike ends up in a landfill, it takes approximately 31 years to degrade. During the shared bike peak years of 2017–2018, images of "bike graveyards" made headlines across China.
S: Social Benefits and Equity Concerns
The bike-sharing system provides a variety of benefits to people. European studies show that replacing car trips with bike-sharing helps prevent around 1,000 cases of chronic diseases annually, which translates to €40 million in healthcare savings [3]. It also reduces the stress of traffic congestion. For riders, bike-sharing can reduce commuting costs by up to 90% compared with driving. What’s more, the industry supports approximately 6,000 full-time jobs across Europe.
However, the issues persist. People with disabilities face barriers. Shared bikes are always placed on the sidewalk, which can easily block the typhlosolis.
Imagine a blind person walking with a cane. He has to follow the bumpy tactile paving under his feet. Suddenly, his cane hits a parked bike. They have no way to know what's blocking the path or how to get around it. A person in a wheelchair might find that the sidewalk becomes too narrow to pass and be forced to roll out into the street. Even a parent pushing a stroller has to detour onto the road. The convenience for riders becomes an obstacle for others.
[8] Bikes on the sidewalks and typhlosolis in Chendu
G: Governance and the Road Ahead
On the governance side, leading companies now publish formal ESG reports. Hello Inc. (哈啰) released its 2024 Sustainability and ESG Report in June 2025, detailing its green mobility initiatives. Chinese researchers propose Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and environmental taxes as two governance models to address the shared bike waste problem, which uses evolutionary game theory to simulate how government, enterprises, and consumers interact [7]. Cities have to impose stricter deployment quotas to prevent the oversupply that led to the “bike graveyards”. As users of shared bikes, people have to follow the rules of placement and understand the consequences of inappropriate bike placement.
Bike-sharing is neither a hundred percent environmental hero nor a complete disaster. The future of bike-sharing sustainability depends not on whether we use shared bikes, but on how well the industry manages its full lifecycle.
The next time you unlock a shared bike, it doesn’t mean you’re just taking a ride; you're also participating in a complex ESG story.
Don’t forget to place it in an appropriate place!
Reference：
[1]Dai, Y. (2026). The Green Ride: Bike-Sharing Platforms and Urban Carbon Reduction. China Economist.
[2]Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China. (2022). Report on Pollution and Carbon Reduction of Shared Mobility Throughout Its Lifecycle.
[3]EIT Urban Mobility. (2025). Study Shows Bike-Sharing Delivers €305 Million in Annual Benefits Across Europe.
[4]Liu, et al. (2020). Life cycle carbon dioxide emissions of bike sharing in China: Production, operation, and recycling. ResearchGate.
[5]Swapfiets. (2024). Sustainability Report 2024.
[6]Donkey Republic. (2024). ESG Report 2024.
[7]Wang, et al. (2020). Multi-Agent Evolutionary Game Analysis of Waste Shared Bike Recycling Governance. Journal of Beijing Institute of Technology (Social Sciences Edition).
Picture Source:
Author: Yuetong Yin
Layout design: Chengying Liu
Time: 2026.8.31