2022 has been a year to remember for events at the European Cyclists’ Federation. With numerous conferences, webinars and unveilings taking place across Europe and the rest of the world, the ECF team was on hand to represent, promote and celebrate cycling throughout the year. Let’s recap some of the event highlights of 2022.

Velo-city 2022 Ljubljana

Following the success of its predecessor in Lisbon, Velo-city 2022 Ljubljana had a big task to live up to – and it did so emphatically! With the official slogan “cycling the change”, this year’s Velo-city focused on transformation, a theme fitting for a city which has certainly led by example in revolutionizing itself as one of Europe’s finest examples of an ideal cycling city.

Taking place on the 14-17 June, the four-day conference featured more than 60 sessions and seven plenaries, with over 350 high-level speakers sharing their expertise and knowledge with the cycling world. Amongst whom was legendary Danish architect and long-time cycling advocate, Jan Gehl, whose assuring words “Can bicycle activism save the world? Yes, I've seen it done and I've seen wonderful results for the world” perfectly encapsulated the positive spirit of optimism, enthusiasm and determination  shared amongst attendees.

You can relive all the action from Velo-city 2022 Ljubljana in our daily reports!

ECF Annual General Meeting 2022

On 6-7 May, over 60 representatives of Europe’s most influential cycling advocacy organisations convened in Berlin for ECF’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2022. ECF welcomed six new members and four newly elected and re-elected Board members at the AGM. Hosted by German ECF Member ADFC, this year’s AGM included workshops that ranged from successful cycling campaigning and cycling data collection to a knowledge transfer session on ECF Member successes from the last year.

Read more here.

World Bicycle Day 2022

On 3 June, ECF hosted a free webinar featuring numerous cycling and sustainable mobility advocates from around the world to celebrate World Bicycle Day. The theme of the webinar revolved around the important question: “What does cycling mean for our cities, planet and future?” Key speakers included Colombian Minister for Transport Ángela María Orozco Gómez, Director General of the Union Cycliste Internationale Amina Lanaya and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet, who promoted the European Cycling Declaration, which calls on the European Commission to develop a “proper action plan at the EU level” to prioritise cycling.

You can watch the full event here.

'25 Years of EuroVelo' – Laying the foundations for cycling tourism in Europe

On 21 November, we celebrated EuroVelo’s 25th Anniversary with an online event. Hosting 15 speakers, including European Parliament TRAN committee coordinator, Ciarán Cuffe MEP, the webinar was the perfect moment to reflect on the achievements of EuroVelo over the past years and to focus on the future development of the European cycle route network. With over 550 registrations, the EuroVelo community flooded the online chat room with messages and well-wishes, all-the-while creating an engaging discussion throughout the two-hour event.

You can watch the full event here.

COP 27

This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP) took place on 6-18 November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and ECF was once again in attendance to represent the voice of cycling organisations and cyclists from around the world. Despite active travel and transport remaining a low priority on the conference agenda, over 400 organisations from 73 countries signed the Partnership for Active Travel and Health's open letter to world leaders, an initiative spearheaded by ECF, FIA Foundation, Walk21 and the UN Environment Programme that demanded the prioritisation of walking and cycling in the fight against the climate crisis.

ECF CEO Jill Warren and Walk21 CEO Bronwen Thornton were on hand to present the letter to government representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia, The Netherlands and Portugal, as well as partake in multiple speaking slots and discussions on transport. Read more here.

ECF Awards 2022

Proudly sponsored by Arup, Eco-Counter, Geveko Markings and JobRad, the inaugural ECF Awards proved to be a major success. Taking place at Velo-city 2022 Ljubljana, the awards honoured a selection of top achievers in European cycling, rewarding four contenders from across the continent based on best practices and impressive commitments to ensuring more cycling. This year’s categories and winners were:

• Cycle-Friendly Employer Award: R+V Versicherung AG
• Cycling Improvement Award: City of Paris
• Cycling Infrastructure Award: Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council
• Road Safety Award: Brussels Capital Region

You can read more about the ECF Awards here.

EuroVelo 5 inauguration: Connecting the EU capital with Europe by bike

On 23 March, Elke Van den Brandt, the cycling-friendly Mobility Minister of Brussels-Capital Region; Walter Goetz, Head of Cabinet for Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport; and Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg, Member of the European Parliament joined ECF to celebrate achieving another milestone towards greener mobility in Europe. New signs for EuroVelo 5 – Via Romea (Francigena) were officially unveiled in Brussels’ Parc du Cinquantenaire.

Watch the event recap video here.

Connecting Europe Days 2022

From 28-30 June, Connecting Europe Days, Europe's mobility flagship event, was held in Lyon, France. ECF was present with a booth, speaking to the assembled leaders of transportation and European politics and outlining the importance of integrating EuroVelo into the EU’s TEN-T network of transport infrastructure. During the event, Chair of the Parliament’s TRAN Committee, Karima Delli emphasised the need for greater support for EuroVelo, not only stressing the importance of financing upgrades to address bottlenecks in the network, but also making the case for increasing support to market the EuroVelo network, as well as properly interconnecting with the TEN-T network.

Read more about the event here.

Getting cycling noticed as a full mode of transport at the Transport Research Arena

Billed as Europe’s largest research and technology conference on transport and mobility, this year’s Transport Research Arena (TRA) was held in Lisbon, Portugal under the theme of “moving together – reimagining mobility worldwide”, and attracted over two thousand people, including senior officials from the European Commission and national governments, as well as researchers and academics, businesses and civil society organisations. ECF Director of Policy and Development Philip Amaral was on hand to make the case for cycling, moderating and partaking in two sessions on infrastructure and cycling projects.

Read more about the event here.

F3 bridge: The biggest cycling investment in the history of Belgium

A new section of F3 cycle highway between the cities of Brussels and Leuven in Belgium was officially opened on 30 April 2022. With a price tag of €32.5 million, it is the single most expensive cycling investment in the history of Belgium, and, of course, ECF was on hand at the opening event to emphasise how this highlights exactly why cycling infrastructure needs to be considered from the beginning of all TEN-T projects.

You can watch the full video of the unveiling here, courtesy of the EU CYCLE project.