2023-06-03 21:00:15
One of the consequences that the climate crisis has brought is the rethinking of the way we move. At the individual level, but also as a society, there is an increasingly shared conviction of the need to change the means of transport that pollute the most for other, more sustainable ways of traveling. The replacement of the private car by public transport is the clearest example, but the debate concerns other types of transport such as planes. From ecological sectors, decades ago less use of flights is called for to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. A demand that has been transferred to the political sphere, where the issue, if not addressed with due rigor, runs the risk of becoming little more than an ideological proclamation without results regarding the real objective of decarbonizing the planet.
France has just passed a law that, theoretically, prohibits short flights when there is an alternative train of less than 2.5 hours. In practice, the rule has turned out to be much less ambitious than what was announced, due to all the conditions that limit its application. So it’s stuck in one law more symbolic than effective. A similar measure was also being studied in Spain, within the sustainable mobility bill that has been definitively parked because of the advancement of the general elections. This newspaper has wanted to analyze what would be the impact in Spain in case of applying the new French regulations, with results just as meager as in the neighboring country: only five air routes, which carry 3.2 million passengers annually, would be affected. Much of this explanation lies in the design of the high speed: a radial network with epicenter in Madrid, which means that for many routes that do not have the Spanish capital as their destination or origin, the option of flying (or car) is often more viable. Overcoming this radial design is the main pending issue if you really want to bet politically on the train as an alternative to the plane. and it is also accurate move further towards intermodalitythat allows to combine different transports (the possibility of going by train to the airport, for example).
Dispensing with the air sector in our country is not so easy, because current connections often do not offer better alternatives for travelers. But since the debate focuses on the pollution generated by planes, it is worth remembering that the aviation sector represents between 2% and 3% of the total polluting emissions into the atmosphere, and that most of these come from international flights. So, even if the smallest gesture counts, it is not very clear that a measure such as banning short flights can make a decisive contribution to reducing emissions.
Another look allows us to see another scope of the French law or other similar ones: although its real impact is less, it is a way of addressing the defense of the planet on the political agenda, even if it is somewhat ‘greenwashing‘ (eco-bleaching). The policy’s commitment to the environment must go beyond the slogan and touch reality. And in terms of transport, it is probably more urgent to invest in infrastructure such as Nearby trains or the metropolitan buses.
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