The road to zero emissions

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that going back to “normal”—a time when we weren’t prepared for the biggest global catastrophes heading our way—isn’t good enough. Effectively tackling the climate crisis will require a historic, all-in effort across both the public and private sectors that we’ve never seen before.

We must meet this moment together. That means decarbonizing transportation, which today makes up about one quarter of global climate emissions. It’s the last sector to decarbonize and progress is urgently needed.

While Uber only makes up less than 1% of vehicle miles traveled, we believe we can have an outsized impact to help accelerate the transition to zero-emission transportation. That’s due to a few reasons: 

• When rideshare drivers switch to electric vehicles (EVs), we realize 3 to 4 times greater emissions savings compared to average car owners—because rideshare drivers use their vehicles more.
• One EV can serve 100 riders a month on average via Uber, moving EV rides from personal luxury to an everyday option. By contrast, only a fraction of typically more wealthy households have been able to afford EVs in the past, and it’s often their second or third vehicle. 
• As drivers who use Uber increasingly go electric, it will mean many more electric miles in urban areas, more vehicle turnover, and more charging on city networks. That means lower battery costs and increased supply of well-utilized charging stations, two of the biggest impediments facing transportation electrification.
• Uber can improve access to multimodal, lower-emission rides beyond EVs. Simply swapping all gas-powered cars for EVs won’t reduce traffic in our cities. Part of the solution must be lower emission trips of every kind: on electric 4-wheels, on 2-wheels, and on buses and trains.

As we announced last fall, Uber is focusing on 4 key actions to build a better normal and move our mobility platform to zero emissions:

1. We’re expanding Uber Green to thousands of cities to provide hybrid and EV options for riders around the world 
2. We’re directing $800 million in resources to help hundreds of thousands of drivers go electric by 2025
3. We’re building a multimodal network that promotes green alternatives to personal cars (i.e. micromobility and transit)
4. We’re setting a new bar for corporate transparency about carbon impact, and staying accountable to the public along the way

Making these changes is hard. But it’s the right thing to do for our customers, our cities, our shareholders, and the planet we share. It’s going to take all of us, more actions, and more urgency than ever before to defeat this threat. We’re committed to getting there… are you?