Latest reports suggest that France will prohibit commercial aircraft on a number of short-haul domestic routes as part of continued efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Short flights which are particularly harmful to the environment since aircraft consume more fuel during takeoff and landing, have been outlawed for the first time in France.
Speaking of the decision, transport Minister Clément Beaune said, “I am proud that France is a pioneer in this area,”. He described the new policy as a “major step forward.”
The policy will go into effect in a few months and initially endure for three years; after two years, there will be a review to see if it should be extended. It was accepted on the advice of a citizens’ assembly established in France’s 2021 law to address climate change and tasked with coming up with suggestions to reduce emissions.
If the train ride is shorter than two and a half hours, the committee suggested banning flying between cities connected by rail lines.
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France has an advanced high-speed rail network. The first high-speed trains on the continent of Europe were its TGV trains, which entered operation in 1981. No train service in the United States can match their top speed of 187 mph.
Recall that last year, during the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an Aviation Climate Action Plan with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions in the aviation industry by 2050. It proposed researching new technologies such as lower-emissions fuels and other ways of improving fuel efficiency.
Air travel contributes 2.5% of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Comparatively speaking, rail travel is far more environmentally benign and energy-efficient. Rail accounted for only 0.3% of the European Union’s overall energy consumption in 2016, the most recent year for which figures are available, whereas air transport accounted for 2.2%. This isn’t because Europeans fly nine times more than Americans do.
In the EU, rail passenger kilometres in 2019 were almost 72% greater than those of aircraft. According to the Community of European Railway, trains only use 2% of the energy used for transportation in the EU yet carry 13% of cargo and 7% of passengers because they are largely electrified.
Story was adapted from Yahoo News.
