In the framework of the World Day for the Reduction of CO₂ Emissions, celebrated on January 28, carpooling or ride-sharing is positioned as one of the most effective strategies to reduce the environmental impact of interurban transport, one of the sectors with the highest carbon footprint in Argentina.
According to data from Viátik, a city-to-city ride-sharing platform created in 2022, since its launch more than 336 tons of CO₂ have been avoided, thanks to the occupancy of seats that would otherwise have traveled empty.
Sustained Growth of Positive Environmental Impact
Since 2023, the reduction of emissions generated by ride-sharing has grown more than 12 times, from 18 tons of CO₂ avoided to more than 220 tons in 2025, in line with the expansion and adoption of the platform.
Currently, the user community avoids between 15 and 20 tons of CO₂ per month, a figure that continues to increase as new routes are added and more people adopt this modality.
Tourist Routes: Where the Impact is Greater
The reduction of emissions is not uniform. Long-distance routes with high tourist flow concentrate the greatest positive environmental impact, as they combine more kilometers traveled with higher seat occupancy.
Among the routes with the greatest CO₂ reduction are:
- Buenos Aires – Mar del Plata: 69.1 tons of CO₂ avoided.
- Buenos Aires – Rosario: 6.52 tons.
- Buenos Aires – La Plata: 2.72 tons.
In high season, these tourist routes become true corridors of environmental efficiency.
Fewer Cars on the Road, Fewer Emissions in Cities
The benefit of carpooling in Argentina is not limited to emissions per trip. By sharing rides, the number of cars circulating on roads, accesses, and urban centers is also reduced, especially during periods of high tourist demand.
Each passenger who joins a car in circulation avoids the need for an additional vehicle, which directly impacts:
- Lower fuel consumption.
- Less traffic congestion.
- More efficient use of existing infrastructure.
Environmental Equivalences
To gauge the impact, the accumulated reduction of 336 tons of CO₂ is approximately equivalent to:
- The emissions of 73 private cars in one year.
- The gases emitted by more than 1,600 short-distance domestic flights per passenger.
- The CO₂ absorption of about 16,000 adult trees over a year.
These equivalences allow us to visualize how everyday decisions, like sharing a ride, can have a significant environmental effect.
An Expanding Trend
Viátik’s CTO and co-founder, Gonzalo Aszyn, highlighted:
“The environmental impact of ride-sharing grows as more people join this way of traveling. Each occupied seat is an emission that is not generated, and measuring that effect allows us to gauge how everyday decisions can have a real positive impact. In 2026 we will continue to deepen the monitoring of these data to make them increasingly visible.”
In a country where transportation is one of the main generators of emissions, carpooling is no longer just an economic decision but becomes a concrete environmental action.
Its growth demonstrates that collaboration among people can be a powerful tool to reduce the carbon footprint and move towards a more sustainable mobility model.
