Long-distance passenger travel has received rather sparse attention for decarbonisation. Here, the authors characterise the long-distance travel pattern in England and explore its importance on carbon emissions from and decarbonisation of passenger travel.
The authors find that only 2.7% of a person’s trips are for long distance travel (>50 miles one-way), but they account for 61.3% of the miles and 69.3% of the greenhouse gas (CO2 equivalent) emissions from passenger travel, highlighting its importance for decarbonising passenger transport. Long-distance travel per person has also been increasing over time, trending in the opposite direction to shorter-distance travel.
Flying for leisure and social purposes are the largest contributors to long distance miles and emissions, and these miles are also increasing. Overall, per capita travel emissions have started decreasing slowly from 2007, but are still higher than in 1997. The authors propose a new metric – emissions reduction sensitivity (% emission reduced/% trips altered) – to understand the efficiency of travel demand-related initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Long-distance travel – especially flying – can offer orders of magnitude larger emissions reduction sensitivity compared with urban travel, which suggests that a proportionate policy approach is necessary.
Zia Wadud, Muhammad Adeel & Jillian Anable
Wadud, Z., Adeel, M. & Anable, J. Understanding the large role of long-distance travel in carbon emissions from passenger travel. Nat Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01561-3