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Environmental group Greenpeace called on the European Union to ban short flights on routes where a train journey under six hours was 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 OBC-Transeuropa think tank.
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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 under-used 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 — are 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 like 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 will only be amplified by the climate summit. While long-haul flying is responsible…
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Source : time
