Greenpeace calls on EU to ban short flights, beef up rail

Amsterdam

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 on Wednesday, just days ahead of the COP26 climate summit.

Links to non-EU states like the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland provide added opportunities to displace flying, said the report from Greenpeace and the OBC-Transeuropa 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 travelling 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 aviation industry is coming under increasing pressure from governments and climate groups to decarbonise, a call that has been amplified ahead of the climate summit. While long-haul 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 Ltd 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.

"Rather than trying to return to the unsustainable air travel volumes of the past, we should focus on adopting less polluting and more climate-friendly solutions."

Some member states have tried to restrict short-haul flights as part of the support packages that bailed out cash-strapped airlines at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. BLOOMBERG