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ARCHIVED - Spain plans to abolish short haul flights
The move comes as new research shows that shorter flights in Spain produce the most greenhouse gas emissions
Following on from a recent study conducted by the University of Manchester which found that short-haul flights are the main cause of aviation emissions in Europe, the Government of Spain has committed to eliminating air routes in all instances where a train could make the journey with a duration of two and a half hours or less.
The UK research, which studied ‘door-to-door’ flights before the coronavirus pandemic effectively halted travel, summarised that prohibiting European journeys of less than 500 kilometres would drastically reduce aviation emissions, which account for 6% of all greenhouse gases.
The finding, according to the researchers, represents a clear opportunity to "stop unnecessary pollution on the way to zero net carbon target."
By burning fuel, flights produce greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), and shorter flights have now been proven to produce the most emissions by far. These gases contribute to global warming when they are released into the atmosphere.
The controversial plan by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to eliminate all short-haul flights in his ‘Spain 2050’ report has led to serious backlash from the Air Lines Association (ALA), but he has insisted that the move could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country by up to two million tonnes. In a Twitter exchange last month, the President promised rock band Coldplay that Spain would lead the way in funding for climate change initiatives.
The ALA has warned of the “devastating” effect the ban would have on the aeronautical sector, not to mention its impact on tourism, as it would essentially prohibit virtually all flights from almost anywhere in Spain to Madrid.
The scientists are in agreement, however, that now is the time to make changes, given that more people than ever are travelling by air. In the EU, the number of passengers grew from 360 million to 1.1 billion in 2018, with greenhouse gas emissions from planes increasing by 129% over the past couple of decades.
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