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Uber’s Climate Assessment and Performance Report

The environmental impact of trips served by Uber’s platform matters. It’s our responsibility to measure that impact by evaluating data gathered from the real-world use of Uber, share the results publicly for greater transparency, and act to improve our climate performance.

November 2023 update: This page reflects metrics for trips completed by zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) from the beginning of the first quarter of 2021 to the end of the third quarter of 2023. Note that this report includes information related only to Uber’s Mobility business (ridesharing).

“The road to zero emissions requires transparency and being accountable for progress year after year. Uber is proud to be the first mobility platform to measure and report on emissions from customers’ real-world use of our products.”

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber

ZEV drivers

About 74,000 ZEV drivers a month, on average, actively used Uber’s app in Q3 2023 in the US, Canada, and Europe.* That’s nearly double the same period a year earlier.

Metric: Average monthly active ZEV drivers on Uber, by quarter, since Q1 2021, the start of the first full calendar year after announcing our sustainability commitment. Drivers using Uber’s app are counted as active in a given month if they’ve completed at least one trip in that calendar month.

ZEV trips

In Q3 2023, ZEV drivers provided more than 38 million tailpipe-emissions-free trips using Uber in the US, Canada, and Europe.* This is nearly 2 times the number of ZEV trips completed on Uber during the same period a year earlier.

Metric: Number of trips arranged on the Uber app and fulfilled by ZEV drivers, by quarter since Q1 2021.

ZEV uptake

In Q3 2023, 9.6% of all on-trip miles in Europe* and 6.5% of all on-trip miles in Canada and the US were completed by ZEV drivers. That represents increases of 2.5 and 2.4 percentage points, respectively, compared with the same period a year earlier. ZEV uptake by drivers using Uber’s app is nearly 6 times higher in Europe and over 7 times higher in Canada and the US than that of drivers in the general population, according to the most recent published government figures (see links below).

Metric: Share of trip miles completed in ZEVs compared with all trip miles arranged by the Uber app, by quarter since Q1 2021.

Note that between Q2 and Q3 2023, we adjusted our methodology for identifying EVs in Europe to improve accuracy (see page 2 of our methodology doc for details), indicated by a dotted line between Q2 and Q3 2023.

Canada and US benchmark data is as of 2022 and is sourced from the International Energy Agency. Note that “BEV” refers to battery electric vehicles. European benchmark data is as of Q2 2023, sourced from the European Commission's European Alternative Fuels Observatory, and only for those European countries indicated below.*

Passenger carbon intensity

In 2022, each mile that a passenger traveled on Uber resulted in an average generation of 147 grams of CO2 in Europe* (or 92 grams of CO2 per kilometer) and 322 grams of CO2 in the US and Canada (or 201 grams of CO2 per kilometer). Compared with 2021, this passenger carbon intensity metric fell 25% in Europe and 11% across the US and Canada. In the US and Canada, 2022 carbon intensity levels continued a 2-year reduction trend, recovering from 2020 highs concurrent with the COVID pandemic to an all-time low since we began measuring more than 6 years ago.

US and Canada
Clear valueopen

Metric: Passenger carbon intensity, or the estimated grams of CO2 per passenger mile traveled, is a climate and efficiency metric used by Uber—and, increasingly, governments and companies around the world. In the case of ridesharing, or any on-demand mobility service, emissions produced by any “deadhead” miles—vehicle miles traveled without a passenger—are factored into the calculation.

For more details about how we calculate carbon intensity, see our methodology document. Note that significantly lower average fuel economy for vehicles on Uber in Europe versus the US and Canada explain most of the difference in carbon intensity in these 2 geographies. While our fleet composition in Europe is more efficient, with a higher proportion of ZEVs and hybrids, more stringent fuel economy reporting standards in the US also contribute to this discrepancy. Also note that we lack access to sufficient input data to calculate passenger carbon intensity for trips completed in European markets before 2021.

Insights and deep dives

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Frequently asked questions

  • Our Climate Assessment and Performance Report provides city officials, environmental advocates, users, and other stakeholders with performance-based metrics on emissions and electrification progress, and efficiency metrics for passenger vehicle trips enabled by the Uber app.

  • The environmental impact of trips completed with Uber’s app matters. It’s our responsibility to report transparently on performance and take action to improve it. Our estimates show that emissions resulting from the use of our platform are the most material component of Uber’s carbon footprint. This report, based on real-world use of our platform, provides greater transparency on our climate impact and helps us improve our efforts to support drivers’ fair transition to ZEVs and reduce emissions resulting from rides.

    You can read our first report (2020) here and our second report (2021) here.

  • Metrics include the following:

    • EV use by drivers on Uber (share of on-trip miles or kilometers completed in ZEVs), which measures our progress toward our goal of 100% zero-emission mobility on Uber globally by 2040
    • Carbon intensity, which measures the emissions resulting from every passenger mile
  • We have bold ambitions to reduce the carbon intensity of and increase the use of zero-emission vehicles for trips facilitated by Uber until we realize a fully zero-tailpipe-emissions mobility platform around the world by 2040. We cannot reach that goal without knowing where we stand today.

  • Rides with the Uber app are one of many transportation options available to people who are looking for a ride. Trip choice depends a lot on various local market conditions. Our analysis of National Household Travel Survey data shows that a higher per-household utilization of the most sustainable transportation modes (transit, walking, and biking) correlates with a higher utilization of ridesharing and other on-demand solutions.

  • Our first report, published in 2020, covered the US and Canada. We added major European markets to our second report, published in 2021. We’re committed to regular reporting on climate emissions and other impact areas resulting from trips on Uber and plan to expand the geographic scope of markets covered in the report over time.

  • We update all metrics at least annually and may update some metrics more frequently, as available. We will release emissions metrics (like passenger carbon intensity) annually, aggregated by calendar year.

  • We use the term “zero-emission vehicle” (ZEV) the same way the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Europe’s Transport & Environment (T&E) do: to refer to vehicles that produce no direct CO2 emissions or other criteria air pollutants (such as NOx, particulate matter, CO₂, and SOx) from the on-board source of power.

    Drivers using Uber’s app use 2 types of ZEVs today: battery electric vehicles (battery EVs) and, very occasionally, hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

    Of course, the “zero” in ZEV refers to no emissions from the proverbial “tailpipe” of the vehicle and not necessarily all the emissions that can be accounted for from production to disposal of the vehicle and its energy source. All accounted for, however, life-cycle analyses by independent experts show that “emissions over the lifetime of average medium-size battery EVs registered today are already lower than comparable gasoline cars by 66%–69% in Europe, 60%–68% in the United States, 37%–45% in China, and 19%–34% in India.”

  • In June 2023, we announced our first-ever sustainability commitment for our Delivery business (Uber Eats) to reduce unnecessary packaging waste and delivery trip emissions globally to zero by 2030 and 2040, respectively.

    Our Climate Assessment and Performance Report currently covers electrification and emissions metrics only for our Mobility business (ridesharing). We plan to include our Delivery and Freight businesses in this environmental sustainability report in the future.

  • In Uber’s Environmental, Social, and Governance Report, you can find Uber’s emissions breakdown across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, all of which have received limited assurance from an independent third party.

This page and the related Climate Assessment and Performance Reports and Environmental, Social, and Governance Reports (“the report”) contain forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations and goals, which involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated. For more information, please see our reports.

*In 2020, we set a goal of reaching 50% of trip kilometers completed in battery EVs in 7 European capitals: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid, and Paris. For this reason, all mentions of “Europe” for the metrics reported here refer to all passenger mobility trips completed in the country-level markets corresponding to these 7 European capitals: the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, the UK, Spain, and France, respectively. Further details can be found in our SPARK! Report.

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