Shared bike users in China covered 29.947 billion kilometers in 2017, reducing carbon emissions by 6.99 million tons, said a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on Jan. 31.

The report said that by the end of December last year, 28.6% of China’s 772-million of the country’s online population have enjoyed the service.

According to Yu Jianing, an official with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the figure suggests wide acceptance of the sharing economy among Chinese citizens.

The Sharing Economy Research Center under the State Information Center forecasted that China’s sharing economy will maintain an annual growth rate of about 40% in the next few years. By 2020, the sector is expected to account for 10% of the country’s GDP, the center added.