Uber launches carbon dioxide savings tracker

Uber has launched a carbon dioxide savings tracker, with one state taking an early lead in the clean green stakes.

Victorians are saving the most carbon dioxide emissions via Uber’s emission savings tracker.

The new feature tallies the CO2 saved by riders hopping into an EV or hybrid.

Rather than showing riders a negative statistic – how much they are emitting per ride – the rideshare giant is spelling out in simple, real world terms how much CO2 you save each ride by choosing a low emissions vehicle.

The company is putting their money where their mouth is too, as the rate for EV and hybrid rides (Uber Green) are the same as standard UberX.

The carbon dioxide-savings screen which Uber users can now see, telling them how much pollution their rides have saved. Picture: Uber

Uber Australia head of strategy and planning, Anna Brito, said the new feature came from a desire to give riders information about the environmental impacts small decisions have.

The new feature is rolling out across the country on Tuesday.

In the account screen of the app, a user can see how many kilograms of CO2 they have saved by opting for Uber Green, or the more expensive Comfort Electric.

In cities where requesting an electric vehicle is an option, regular emitting Uber vehicles and Uber ‘Green’ rides are the same price. Picture: NewsWire / David Geraghty

The total saved emissions are compared right there in the app to the equivalent gas, mileage of a petrol car and landfill saved. At the moment, the comparative figures are presented in gallons, miles and pounds.

Ms Brito said Uber was acting on its big emission-cutting initiatives.

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent subsidising driver commission fees, saving Australian Uber drivers up to $3500-per-year for three years so the driver can save towards an electric vehicle.

Uber Australia head of strategy and planning, Anna Brito, says Uber ‘partner-drivers’ are switching to EVs four times faster than the general population Picture: Supplied

In the first quarter of 2024, Australian Uber riders took 1.8 million EV trips, in more than 4000 EV Ubers.

Those EV trips represent four per cent Uber drivers’ kilometres for the period, though the actual mileage number is commercially sensitive.

Ms Brito said in the spirit of State of Origin, the company had tallied CO2 savings for the month of April. Victoria leads the way, followed by WA, Queensland, NSW, the ACT and then South Australia in sixth spot. Data for the North Territory and Tasmania was not available.

Former Melbourne taxi driver Nick Adrianakis outside the Supreme Court of Victoria in March, after a class action against Uber was settled in-principle for $271m. Picture: NewsWire / Blair Jackson

In March Uber settled a class action against more than 8000 taxi and hire car owners, agreeing to pay $271.8m.

The class action was sparked by what the drivers’ lawyers called Uber’s aggressive move into the Australian market, diminishing the existing drivers’ income and licence values.

At the time of the settlement, an Uber spokesperson said when Uber started more than a decade ago, “ridesharing regulations did not exist anywhere in the world, let alone Australia”.

“Today is different, and Uber is now regulated in every state and territory across Australia, and governments recognise us as an important part of the nation’s transport mix,” the spokesperson said.