True scale of carbon impact from long-distance travel revealed

Date 2 July 2024

The reality of the climate impact of long-distance passenger travel has been revealed in new research from the University of Leeds.

Despite only accounting for less than 3% of all trips by UK residents, journeys of more than 50 miles (one way) are responsible for 70% of all passenger travel-related carbon emissions.

The disparity is even greater when international travel is singled-out: international journeys are only 0.4% of total trips but are responsible for 55% of emissions.

The new research, published today in the journal Nature Energy, also shows that targeting long-distance travel may be a more effective way of tackling emissions than current efforts which focus on local and commuter journeys.

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