Uber wants ‘fully green’ food delivery but avoids setting a deadline

Uber Technologies aims to expand its zero-emissions pledge to food delivery and make the business environmentally sustainable, but CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stopped short of committing to do so by a 2030 deadline for its ride-hailing arm.

Khosrowshahi said food deliveries Uber makes in Europe are typically carried on scooters and bikes, so it has prioritised cars for its green ambitions.

“We wanted to start with our mainline mobility business, and then based on our learnings there, we will apply them to delivery as well,” he said. “I don’t know if it’ll be included in the 2030 target, but we’re going to look to drive delivery to be fully green as well.”

Ahead of two weeks of climate talks between world leaders at COP26, several transport-focused technology firms called for faster sustainability targets and expanded urban mobility options.

In a manifesto organised by European city network Polis and backed by Uber, e-scooter operator Lime, air-taxi company Lilium and several others, they called for Europe to bring forward zero-emissions targets for mobility to 2035. The EU has previously said it aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.

William Todts, executive director of Transport and Environment, an advocacy group, said the manifesto reflects a “good level of ambition” but added that he thought transport in large cities should be emissions-free by 2025, and that regulators should impose rules mandating food delivery be emissions free. “If you create new economic activity you shouldn’t be adding more pollution at this stage,” Todts said.

There have been issues for mobility companies pursuing greener businesses. Uber and Lyft’s 2030 deadline to transition entirely to electric vehicles in North America and Europe has come with a tentative and incomplete approach thus far that trailed broader adoption of electric vehicles in the US’s passenger fleet.

In their manifesto, the companies said cities should prioritise public transport, embrace artificial intelligence to reduce crashes, and introduce regulation to help deploy selfdriving vehicles.

In 2020, Uber reported that its total emissions stood at more than 3-million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Wayne Ting, CEO for Lime, said cities need to add more bike lanes and deprioritise parking for cars compared with other forms of transport, to encourage people to leave behind their cars. “These are types of policies that are going to make people think twice before driving a car into a city centre,” Ting said.