Lime cuts emissions as ridership grows

Micromobility operator Lime says it has reduced its total greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent between 2019 and 2025, while the distance travelled on its vehicles increased by almost 250 percent.

Its latest carbon inventory report puts total emissions at 90,376 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025, compared with 138,844 tonnes in 2019. Emissions per kilometre declined by 81.4 percent over the same period.

Andrew Savage (pictured), Vice President of Sustainability and Founding Team Member at Lime, told Cities Today that the decline in absolute emissions came from changes to its energy use, operational fleet, vehicles and logistics.

“Our biggest reductions come from powering our facilities on renewables and transitioning to a more electric operations fleet, along with decarbonising vehicles and logistics,” he said. “All of these enabled us to grow our service, while cutting absolute emissions.”

Lime designs its vehicles internally rather than relying on off-the-shelf models. Savage said this had allowed the company to introduce more durable and repairable vehicles with swappable batteries, extending their lifespan and reducing the journeys needed for charging and maintenance.

The company also increased its use of lower-carbon components, including aluminium and battery cells manufactured using renewable energy. It estimates that manufacturing emissions intensity across new batteries, e-scooters, LimeBikes and LimeGliders fell by 25.3 percent in 2025.

Scope 3 emissions, which cover manufacturing, logistics and other indirect activities, accounted for 97.5 percent of Lime’s total footprint. Purchased goods and services represented 39 percent of Scope 3 emissions, followed by vehicles and batteries at 34 percent and transport and distribution at 21 percent.

“Manufacturing remains both our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity,” Savage said. “We’ll continue working with suppliers to expand renewable energy use, lower carbon material sourcing, and cleaner manufacturing while designing vehicles that last longer and support more repair, refurbishment, and reuse.”

Lime reported zero market-based Scope 2 emissions after matching all its electricity consumption with renewable electricity or energy certificates. Slightly more than half of the renewable energy associated with the approximately 10,000 megawatt-hours it consumed in 2025 came through local utility green-power programmes.

Market-based accounting reflects the electricity a company purchases, including through certificates, while location-based reporting reflects the carbon intensity of the grids where that electricity is consumed. Lime publishes figures using both methods.

Savage said certificates were “one part of the solution and a tool that helps drive demand for renewable electricity”.

Independent limited assurance by WSP covers Lime’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 inventory, which represents 2.5 percent of its reported emissions. Savage said obtaining assurance for Scope 3 remains uncommon and that Lime is focused on improving data quality and increasing the coverage of primary data before strengthening its assurance approach.

Vehicle and component calculations use material, mass and lifecycle data, while logistics emissions are based on distances and transport modes. Industry emissions factors are used for spending in areas where primary data is less practical, including marketing, consulting and legal services.

Lime estimates that its riders avoided more than 38 million car journeys in 2025. Savage said the company uses rider surveys and independent research to assess whether its services replace car journeys rather than walking, cycling or public transport.

“Our goal is to complement walking, cycling, and public transit while reducing reliance on private cars,” he said.

Image: Lime