Dear ECF friends,

As a great year for cycling is coming to an end and I am very proud of the achievements of ECF and all our partners. This year, the cycling community made decisive steps forward – none of which would have been possible without your support and commitment.

At European level, the year was dominated by the most important policy document ever to be drafted in favor of cycling. The Declaration of Luxembourg, an agreement signed last October between the 28 EU member states and the European Commission articulated their “commitment to promote cycling as a climate friendly and efficient transport mode”. For the first time, the Declaration calls for a cycling strategy that will show EU-wide policy benefits of cycling.

This is a result of teamwork. Our work with the European institutions had outstanding support from our members and supporters from cities, industry and the academic community to make sure that every country and sector in the EU backed the Declaration.

Thank you, we have a long way ahead, but we are on the right path.

I am also delighted with our progress in creating a global presence for cycling. Our recent study “Global High Shift Cycling Scenario” showed that cycling could save the world up to 25 trillion US dollars in transport costs over the coming decades.  We also worked closely with the United Nations to show that cycling supports 11 of the 17 new Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a roadmap to 2030 agreed by 193 countries at the UN in September.

With that evidence ECF and WCA coordinated their efforts to put cycling on stage at the most important environmental agreement at global level, bringing our Voluntary Commitment of cycling to Paris for COP21 and making sure cycling is on the agenda for the SDGs, Habitat III and for the wide range of follow ups of the Paris global climate agreement.

At a very personal level want to thank my colleagues in the Scientists for Cycling Network , we published our first book “Cycling Futures – From Research into Practice”, a milestone for any academic network.

Now I am really excited to see what we can achieve in 2016. Velo-city Nantes 2015 set a new record of participants –over 1550- and we cannot be more excited for the global edition of Velo-city which will take place in Taipei in 2016. It will be an unmissable opportunity to discover global cycling policy trends and the future of cycling design and technology at the Taipei Cycle Show. Bringing together all the aspects of cycling makes us grow stronger and strive for new milestones, new goals and successes.

Our advocacy challenge in 2016 is to make sure that policy makers now deliver on their pledges and work with governments, cities, industry and civil society to put cycling at the heart a new, more sustainable, human centred mobility.

Change can be achieved when we have the political will to do so. However, this change is not possible without a strong and committed cycling community pushing it forward. Thank you for your excellent work and your passion to make this world a better place. 2016 can be another year of pride for every single one of you, collectively and individually.

Best wishes for a happy festive season!

Manfred Neun
ECF President

PS: Manfred’s guest blog post at EurActiv: Why is cycling the answer to -almost- any question.