GREENPEACE CHALLENGES EU TO BAN SHORT FLIGHTS
Report: Comparable rail routes would emit less pollution
Environmental group Greenpeace called on the European Union to ban short flights on routes where a train journey under six hours is available, in a sign of growing pressure on governments to take bolder steps to avert climate disaster.
More than a third of the 150 busiest short-haul routes within the EU have a viable rail alternative with journey times that meet the test, including popular hops like Paris-Amsterdam, Madrid-Barcelona and Munich-Berlin, according to research published Wednesday, just days ahead of the COP26 climate summit.
Links to non-EU states like the U.K., Norway and Switzerland provide added opportunities to displace flying, said the report from Greenpeace and the OBCTranseuropa think tank.
The demands come days before delegates gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for talks aimed at staving off catastrophic climate change. Greenpeace is seeking more government funding to improve rail infrastructure, make traveling by train cheaper and revive underused routes including night trains. Reducing air traffic is essential to making rapid cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions, the group said.
Greenpeace is also lobbying for an end to policies that lower the price of airline tickets, such as kerosene and value-added tax exemptions, to help put rail travel on an equal price footing. Monopolies on many train services — including those run by governments — is another factor that tends to make trains more expensive.
The demand for a tougher stance on air travel contrasts with aviation industry calls for a coordinated push, rich with subsidies and incentives, to accelerate the introduction of technologies such as sustainable aviation fuels — while fighting off more-drastic measures that would raise costs or clamp down on flying.
The aviation industry is coming under increasing pressure from governments and climate groups to decarbonize, a call that has been amplified ahead of the climate summit. While longhaul flying is responsible for a bulk of aviation’s emissions, shorter routes are worse per passenger and per kilometer due to the energy required for taking off, according to Greenpeace.
Planes emit about five times more CO2 than trains on similar routes, the report said — a figure that will vary depending on aircraft type, length of journey, whether the train is diesel or electrified, and how the electricity is generated.
Governments have taken some tentative steps to limit flying, with politicians weighing a revival of a version of the defunct Trans Europe Express, which would move passengers between Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.
Spain’s state-owned train operator Renfe is seeking to compete with Eurostar International on trips between London and Paris through the Channel Tunnel, El Pais reported this week.
Greenpeace and others have called for faster action.
“The EU must stop flying into the climate crisis, and implement a serious plan to revitalise our railways, instead of continuing to support air over rail,” Greenpeace said in the report.