Ride-Hailing’s Climate Risks

The report finds that ride-hailing typically increases climate pollution and urban congestion because it displaces lower-carbon travel modes and adds 'deadheading' miles. It argues that the industry must rapidly electrify its fleet and increase ride-pooling to mitigate these effects, while governments should prioritize multimodal transportation and mass transit over car-centric models.

• Ride-hailing trips generally produce more emissions than the trips they replace. A typical ride-hailing trip, assuming pooling occurs 15 percent of the time, is estimated to be 69 percent more polluting than the transportation options it displaces.
• Non-pooled ride-hailing trips are significantly more polluting than private car trips, primarily due to 'deadheading'—the distance driven without passengers between fares. UCS estimates that a non-pooled ride-hailing trip generates approximately 47 percent more emissions than a private car trip in a vehicle of average fuel efficiency.
• Ride-hailing often displaces low-carbon transportation modes rather than just private car trips, particularly in dense urban areas. In California, surveys indicate that 24 percent of non-pooled and 36 percent of pooled ride-hailing trips would have otherwise been taken via mass transit, walking, biking, or not taken at all.
• Electrification and increased pooling can drastically reduce the climate impact of ride-hailing. An electric, pooled ride-hailing trip can reduce emissions by about 68 percent compared to a private vehicle trip in an average car, or by 79 percent compared to a non-pooled ride-hailing trip.
• The growth of ride-hailing has contributed to increased urban traffic congestion and reduced average vehicle speeds. In San Francisco, average speeds decreased from 25.6 mph in 2010 to 22.2 mph in 2016, with half of that decline attributed to ride-hailing.
• Current adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and pooling in ride-hailing fleets remains low. In 2018, less than 1 percent of ride-hailing trips in California, based on mileage, were conducted in EVs, and riders requested pooled trips approximately 20 percent of the time.

APA

Eyring, A. (2020). Ride-Hailing’s Climate Risks. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/Ride-Hailing%27s-Climate-Risks.pdf

Chicago

Eyring, Anthony. Ride-Hailing’s Climate Risks. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2020. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/Ride-Hailing%27s-Climate-Risks.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Eyring |first1=Anthony |title=Ride-Hailing’s Climate Risks |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=February 2020 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/Ride-Hailing%27s-Climate-Risks.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{eyring2020ridehailings, author = {Eyring, Anthony}, title = {{Ride-Hailing’s Climate Risks}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/Ride-Hailing%27s-Climate-Risks.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }