How environmentally friendly is UBA's mobility?

bikes in the UBA office building — **Mobility management at UBA: Commuting & official travel is environmentally friendly, healthy & safe**
Source: Michael Bölke / UBA

The German Environment Agency (UBA) has conducted its fourth mobility survey of its staff's commuting behaviour and arrangement of business trips in the context of its in-house environmental and health-oriented mobility management. Nearly 68 percent of employees commute to work on foot, by bicycle or bus and train. The national average is only 32 percent.

The share of bicycle traffic for daily commutes is about 25 percent – nearly three times higher than the national average. The share of local and regional public transport has increased slightly since 2013. As a result, average CO₂ emissions per work week and employee have declined by 4.2 percent compared to 2013.

We are making efforts to avoid business trips by holding telephone and video conferences. Three-quarters of respondents to the survey said they took the train for domestic business trips – five percent more than in 2013.

At UBA we have been implementing targeted measures for 12 years to promote the use of environmentally friendly modes of transport. Read our current Summary Report to find out just how we go about it. The mobility survey is based on the same questions about commuting and business trips asked in 2013 in order to identify any changes in behaviour. Specifically, we wanted to find out whether our measures to promote cycling and public transport are promoting the use of environmentally friendly modes of transport and where there is potential for improvement.

UBA employees reported the greatest need for action in the area of teleworking and mobile working with the aim of avoiding long commutes and improving work-life balance. There is also potential for improvement in the area of public transportation.

One of the priority areas for UBA in the upcoming years will be the promotion of mobile working (home office) in order to reduce traffic and foster the good health of its employees through stress prevention.