The ride-hailing app is purchasing credits to offset emissions for 50 million rides per month, including yours In 2016, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer set a bold goal for the company?s future by claiming most Lyft vehicles would be autonomous within five years. Now the ride-hailing giant has announced another forward-thinking effort?effective immediately, all its rides will be carbon neutral.
?Starting today, your decision to ride with Lyft will support the fight against climate change,? reads a statement published last week from Zimmer and co-founder Logan Green. ?This is an intentional move to build into Lyft?s business a strong incentive to pursue shared rides and the displacement of gasoline-powered vehicles.?
As part of Lyft?s Green Cities Initiative, the company?s leadership is working with climate consultant 3Degrees to offset its carbon emissions. This means Lyft is buying millions of dollars of what are known as ?carbon credits??investments in renewable energy companies that will help erase Lyft?s negative climate impact. All of Lyft?s carbon credits will fund U.S. based companies, which the company claims will be equivalent to ?planting tens of millions of trees or taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road.? As someone who has been trying to figure out how to reduce the climate impact from my own transportation diet, Lyft?s carbon neutral announcement piqued my interest. I wondered: Does it now make sense for people who drive gas-powered cars to switch...