Church cycles for climate protection: 42 participants and over 2,700 km!

Church cycles for climate protection: 42 participants and over 2,700 km!

There was great excitement in Cologne when the Evangelical Church Association took part in the city cycling for the first time. This competition has now become an exciting tradition in the city that serves to promote cycling and climate protection. Today we look at the results of this campaign, which takes place from May 1st to September 30th and this year has 42 enthusiastic cyclists taking part in the region. The goal? Send a strong signal for environmentally friendly mobility.

In total, the “Kirche radelt” group covered an impressive 2,700 kilometers and did quite well in the urban competition: 49th place is a solid debut for the first time. City Superintendent Bernhard Seiger is optimistic and plans to recruit more than 100 participants next year. “There’s something to be said,” he says, because getting more people on bikes also means a contribution to fewer CO2 emissions in Cologne.

Hard-working cyclists honored

The achievements of the most hard-working cyclists in this campaign were particularly outstanding. Thomas König leads the field and covered the longest distance of 1,175 km. “For me, cycling is a connection to nature and a sustainable lifestyle,” he emphasizes proudly. Second and third places go to Britta Brill with 800 km and Kirstin Schmied with 746 km. Britta describes the infectious enthusiasm she experienced among her friends, while Kirstin highlights the relaxing aspects of cycling. These individual experiences show that cycling is more than just transportation - it's a way of life!

But one thing is clear: taking part in city cycling is not just fun, it also has a serious goal. Because traffic causes around a fifth of the climate-damaging CO2 emissions in Germany. In urban areas it is even a quarter of the CO2 emissions of all traffic. For 30% of short journeys of up to six kilometers, around 7.5 million tons of CO2 could be avoided by switching to bicycles. An incentive that is worth seeing!

Outlook for the future

This is far from the end for the Evangelical Church Association. “We are already planning an expansion of the project for 2026,” says Seiger. A cooperation with the Catholic Church in Cologne is also on the agenda. Together we want to further strengthen the movement for more cycling and climate protection. The CITY CYCLING campaign, which has been running since 2008, also has the clear goal of getting more people to switch to cycling in everyday life. Anyone who lives, works or goes to school in a community can become part of this initiative and create their own team or join an existing one.

Overall, the experiences and success of the Evangelical Church Association's first participation are very encouraging. The positive participation gives rise to hope that more and more people will enjoy cycling and thus actively do something for climate protection. We can look forward to the next round of city cycling in Cologne all the more!