We were there, as the voice of cycling at key moments on the calendar, such as the EU’s Urban Mobility Days and COP28 climate conference, while also organising our own impactful and inspiring events like Velo-city 2023, the PATH Symposium or EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference

These are some of the key events that took place:

Urban Mobility Days 2023 – European Declaration on Cycling

Ahead of the opening of the Urban Mobility Days 2023 Conference in Seville, Spain, The EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean unveiled the groundbreaking European Declaration on cycling. The Declaration is the most ambitious European level initiative to date in cycling and was enthusiastically welcomed by cycling industry leaders. ECF CEO Jill Warren said the proposal “is an excellent framework for enabling many more Europeans to cycle people to cycle - and to cycle more safely.”

Read our comprehensive overview of the European Declaration on Cycling here.

COP28 – PATH

Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the 28^th edition of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties saw ECF actively participate as a UN-accredited observer, a core coordinating partner of The Partnership for Active Travel (PATH) and as a long-time member of the Partnership for Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLOCAT).

On 2 December, ECF successfully co-hosted an official COP28 high-level side event with mayors, a national ministry and banks, entitled Walking and Cycling Policies, Investments and Inclusion in NDC’s for Climate, Health and Equity with Walk21, FIA Foundation, ITDP and Despacio.

Meanwhile as the talks continued in Dubai, PATH ran a successful open letter campaign with over 400 signatories, urging the UNFCCC, Governments and negotiators at COP to prioritise walking and cycling as a means of urgently decarbonising transport to meet our climate goals.

Read more on ECF’s involvement at COP28 here.

EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference 2023 Izmer, Türkiye.

Co-organised by ECF and Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) with the support of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Enverçevko, National EuroVelo Coordinator for Türkiye, this year’s EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference took place in Izmir, Türkiye from 11 to 13 October 2023.

The Conference explored the theme ‘Cycling: a new perspective on heritage’, highlighting the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ephesus and Pergamon, the importance of heritage tourism and the growth of cycling tourism in Türkiye.

Find details for the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference 2024 in Viborg, Denmark, here.

The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) is looking for a city/region to host the 2025 edition of Europe’s leading cycling tourism conference. Could it be you? Apply by 31 January 2024.

PATH Symposium 2023: Walking and Cycling: Effective Actions Essential to Reaching the Climate Goals

The PATH online symposium, held before COP28, brought together policy leaders and decision-makers to discuss effective actions for reaching climate goals through walking and cycling.

The symposium was a precursor to the latest PATH issued report, which showed that most countries significantly undervalue the potential of walking and cycling in their policies and in their Naturally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as a solution to decarbonising transport.

View the presentations here.

Watch the recording of the symposium here.

Velo-city 2023 Leipzig (ICCA Incredible Impacts Award finalists)

The Velo-city 2023 Leipzig team was honoured to be recognised as a finalist for the ICCA & BestCities Global Alliance, Incredible Impacts Award in the latter part of 2023. This award spotlighted the Velo-city 2023 conference for driving real change through passion, creativity and education.

Velo-city is where advocates, cities, policymakers, researchers and industry leaders meet to shape the future of cycling and sustainable urban development. Velo-city, an ECF core activity since 1980, has been crucial in implementing our mission to promote more and better cycling for all in Europe. The annual conference is an essential platform for promoting policy and knowledge exchange, involving 400 selected speakers and inspiring over 1500 participants from 60+ countries. 2023 was a record edition, with the highest ever number of attendees.

Learn more about the success of Velo-city 2023 Leipzig here.

International Cargo Bike Festival (Cargo Bike Friendly Cities Tracker)

ECF presented the highly anticipated launch of our Cargo Bike Friendly Cities Tracker during Cargo Bike Sharing Europe in December! While launched in February, the tracker has been steadily updated throughout the year.

With many European cities grappling with increasingly complex challenges related to urban mobility, more and more individuals, companies and cities are turning to the cargo bike as a solution to unlocking sustainable urban development.

For the first time, ECF has systematically analysed the cargo bike friendliness of over 125 European cities, looking at a range of criteria, including financial incentives, sharing schemes and projects.

Find out more about the Cargo Bike Friendly Cities tracker here.

POLIS, CIE & ECF breakfast session on the Declaration

Following the launch of the European Declaration on Cycling, POLIS, ECF, and CIE convened to discuss the prospects for cities, regions, civil society and industry. The hybrid event was an opportunity for the three organisations to examine how to translate Europe's commitment to cycling into change on the ground.

Panellists at the event included: Karen Vancluysen, POLIS Secretary General; Jill Warren, CEO European Cyclists’ Federation and Kevin Mayne, CEO Cycling Industries Europe.

Find out more about the event here.

The ECF awards

The ECF Awards returned for a second edition at Velo-city 2023 Leipzig, recognising some of Europe’s highest achievers in ensuring more cycling in Europe. The award winners were unveiled during the third day of the conference by ECF President Henk Swarttouw and ECF CEO Jill Warren.

The winners of the awards included:

• The City of Helsingborg for the Cycling Infrastructure Award
• The City of Essen for the Cycle-Friendly Employer Award, sponsored by JobRad.
• The City of Oslo for the Road Safety Award, sponsored by Geveko Markings.
• The City of Heidelberg for the Cycling Improvement Award, sponsored by Eco-Counter.

Unveiling of new ECF projects:

• HE UPPER - https://www.upperprojecteu.eu/

UPPER aims to strengthen the role of public transport as the cornerstone of sustainable and innovative mobility. The project will implement a combination of measures looking to push people out of private cars and to pull them closer to public transport in cities across Europe.

• HE Reallocate - https://reallocatemobility.eu/

REALLOCATE transforms streets into inclusive, green, safe and future-proof urban spaces, where communities live and thrive. The project enables researchers, mobility experts, urban planners and local citizens to collectively re-imagine our cities and redesign how we move from one place to another.

• Nordic Cycle Power Network - https://www.nordicenergy.org/project/nordic-cycle-power-network-cycling-as-a-tool-for-a-green-transition-of-the-land-based-transport-in-the-nordic-region/

The Nordic Cycle Power Network aims to activate a knowledge-sharing network among municipal and regional planners working to improve conditions for cycling. The network will identify measures that can be implemented in the Nordic Region to facilitate and increase biking trips significantly to replace car use and drive down CO2 emissions from land-based transport.

• PACTE+ (Promoting Active Cities Throughout Europe) - https://www.pacteproject.com/

The three-year Erasmus+ funded project aims to encourage cities to take a proactive approach to the promotion of physical activity, in sight of improving individual and collective well-being.

• ESF Bike2Green - https://ecf.com/bike2green

Bike2Green aims at supporting the social acceptance and adoption of active mobility thereby contributing to the green transition to more sustainable transport.

ECF Annual General Meeting 2023

Between 31 March and 1 April, over 50 representatives of cycling organisations from across Europe convened in Brussels for ECF’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023, a key moment focusing on boosting government investment in cycling, developing the ECF brand and connecting with our membership and networks!

Read more on the event here.