ClimateActionTransport

Travel and Transport

Where to get the data - transport footprint calculator: http://www.ecopassenger.org/

Means of Transport

• Walking great for short distances plus keeps you fit. Can get rained on, can be less safe from crime.
• Cycling great for shorter distances, fitness, good combination with trains, but can get rained on, can be intimidated or knocked off
• Electric bicycles great for longer distances or speedier journeys, but can get rained on and knocked off
• Horses bit of an issue with methane but are only 1/3 as bad as cows. The original Horse Power. Can replace emissions-heavy tractors etc. Expensive if not fully utilised.
• Electric scooters great for short distances, fast, dangerous, exposed, must be charged with renewable energy
• Motorbikes (fuel or electric) twice as efficient as cars
• Cars (fuel or electric) electric cars cradle-to-grave manufacture-and-consumption emissions are 3 times better than internal combustion engine vehicles and this will only improve as the economy decarbonises https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change
• Bus, tram, metro very low emissions, often cheap, dry! Restricted routes, times, convenience
• Train low emissions (although there are a lot of diesel trains on rural routes which need electrifying), can be expensive for commuting
• Airlander & airships - great for long haul, only 25% of emissions, but only 25% speed of jets, costs a lot more

• Plane short haul or long haul, massively CO2 emitting. Private jets make superrich into superemitters. 10% produce 50% of the emissions. https://www.clevel.co.uk/flight-carbon-calculator/ CO2 emissions are not the only climate change driver: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62664981

Strategies for tackling personal emissions

• Make the journey an enjoyable part of the holiday (train travel) - try the Guardian - this article has a range of options and links to a whole lot more at the bottom: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/mar/28/10-of-the-best-train-journeys-in-europe-lonely-planet
• European train info: the Man in Seat 61
• Half the emissions of your round-trip by making one half by train
• Try sleeper trains / night trains
• Stay-cations: travel by train and hire a car / bicycles at the destination
• https://www.climateperks.com/ for companies to get accredited for giving their staff extra paid vacation to travel slower
• https://routezero.world/
• https://www.byway.travel/
• https://ecosytravel.co.uk/
• http://flightfreetravel.co.uk/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-5RmS81t1g is a podcaster who covers flight free travel.

Policy

Of all the choices on the list above, the choices which are going to help against climate change are all more expensive or more time-consuming (except in inner cities) than the high emission options. There are no effective policies in place to change that in the short time available.

Required Policies:

• E.P.I.C. = Extreme Positive Incentives for Change. The EPIC in Norway for electric cars managed to get 90% car owners to buy electric cars, by subsidising them so that they were cheaper to buy than petrol cars. It worked!
• Carbon Currency based on Carbon Allowances puts a carbon price on everything - absolute blanket coverage.

These policies involve direct government interventions to create the necessary action in the necessary time frame.

Local Policy

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods:

• Finsbury Park / Tollington in Islington
• Stroud Green in Haringey
• Holloway ward (St Luke's) in Islington

Transport for London Cycleways: map of C50 section on Nags Heads / Finsbury Park gyratory https://felt.com/map/Cycleway-50-tCxP7OzdQwW700mjJFM1rB