Leeds study reveals carbon impact of long distance travel

Journeys over 50 miles are responsible for 70 per cent of all UK passenger-related carbon emissions, despite making up just three per cent of all trips. According to the research, published in Nature Energy, international travel is by far the biggest contributor. Despite accounting for 0.3 per cent of all travel, international journeys make up 55 per cent of all UK passenger emissions.

“The scale of the impact of long-distance travel is very large indeed,” said research lead Dr Zia Wadud, from Leeds University’s Institute for Transport Studies and School of Chemical and Process Engineering.

“That just less than three per cent of our trips are responsible for around 60 per cent of miles and 70 per cent of emissions shows how important long-distance travel is in the fight to combat climate change. Worryingly, long distance trips, especially flights, have been growing; however, they offer opportunities too.”

In order to inform strategies to maximise reductions in passenger-related emissions, the researchers devised a new metric called emission reduction sensitivity, calculated by dividing the carbon reduction percentage by the percentage of journeys altered. They found that if all car journeys under eight miles were shifted to walking or cycling, there would be a 9.3 per cent reduction in carbon emissions. However, around 55 per cent of all journeys would need to be shifted to achieve this, meaning the emission reduction sensitivity for this change would be just 0.17.