Uber has announced a series of product updates aimed at helping the company achieve its climate commitments and encouraging users to make more environmentally friendly choices when ordering through Uber Eats.
While the convenience of food delivery apps like Uber Eats is undeniable, the environmental impact of these services cannot be ignored. Research from USwitch in 2021 revealed that households spending £50 per week on food delivery services have an average carbon footprint that is 450% higher than those that don’t.
In response, Uber has committed to reducing the carbon emissions associated with deliveries. By 2040, the company aims to ensure that 100% of its couriers use zero-emissions vehicles, and by 2030, 100% of restaurants on the Uber Eats app will use sustainable packaging. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi acknowledges the challenges involved in achieving these goals but hopes that other services and restaurants will follow suit.
To address the affordability issue of sustainable packaging for restaurants, Uber is collaborating with organizations like the World Wildlife Fund to explore ways of making green packaging options more cost-effective.
To empower users in making sustainable choices, Uber will introduce a new feature in the Uber Eats app that allows filtering of restaurants based on their green packaging options, whether that includes recyclable, reusable, or compostable materials. This will make it easier for customers to support environmentally conscious businesses.
Greener rides
Being a business that depends heavily on the use of cars, Uber acknowledges it’s only appropriate that it sets ambitious sustainable goals for its business. Given the effects of human-caused climate changes being felt across the globe as a result of droughts, wildfires and extreme weather events Uber has committed to changing its fleet of electric vehicles in order to cut down on emissions of carbon emissions its service releases.
There were more than 60,000 Uber drivers were using electric vehicles in the last month, according to Khosrowshahi three times the number of drivers as the year before. Uber is aiming for all its drivers to move to EVs but this is an additional issue for Uber because many drivers find the price of electric vehicles to be prohibitively expensive.
In the absence of a London gathering on Thursday, there was a small number comprising Uber drivers, with a total of less than 10 were protesting Uber’s “greed” in its practices which they claimed to center profits on driver earnings. If Uber would like its drivers to purchase electric cars, the company ought to pay for the cost itself as per Abdurzak Hadi, who has been driving for Uber since 2014.
“If I’m required to be able to pay, prices should go up,” he said. “There’s an increase in inflation across the country, and everything is increasing however our fares have decreased.”
On the stage, Khosrowshahi addressed the difficulties with switching to electric cars. “EVs aren’t cheap enough and charging is too difficult,” he said. “What we have to do is to make it simple.”
Uber is expanding partnerships to lower the costs for drivers in addition to educating drivers on how to maximize their cost effectiveness of their services through an online hub for drivers app. Uber also provides drivers with new tools to ensure that charging is as easy and effective as it is possible for them.
For the riders, Uber is making it easy for you to comprehend and minimize your impact on the environment. Beginning this week, you’ll be informed when you’re traveling on environmentally friendly routes as well as, from the end of this year, you’ll view within the Uber application any carbon emission savings you’ve made through making use of Uber Green. Uber Green service to travel on an electric car.
The company recently increased the Uber X Share service to include 18 additional cities. It has changed its name to Car Next Door, an Australian car-sharing platform that it owns it, under the name Uber Car Share, with the upcoming North America launch planned for Boston and Toronto.
In light of the reality that about 15% of Uber trips are to and from airports (making them more time-consuming than the average Uber ride, and resulting in higher emissions) The company will offer incentives to select Uber Green over Uber X by offering a variety of benefits. They include lower prices, and access to exclusive pickup zones at the curb and other locations that are popular with customers. In certain areas, drivers who travel on these routes also get fast chargers at a discounted price or for free to charge their electric vehicles.
At first the airport partners of Uber will comprise Portland (PDX), Phoenix (PHX), London Heathrow (LHR) and Madrid (MAD) However, it hopes that in the future, its green amenities will eventually be offered in all the airports that it offers transportation between and to.
Uber hopes that its policies will be a part of electronic vehicle technology in a larger way as well, according to Khosrowshahi. Uber has been responsible for providing a number of individuals with their first taste of driving an electric vehicle according to him. “And the first time you experience electric vehicles it is much more likely to consider using an electric automobile in your own life, whether that’s purchasing an electric car, or opting to use Uber Green whenever you use the service.”
