Flights Dominate Travel Emissions of Young Urbanites

Jukka Heinonen,Michał Czepkiewicz,Áróra Árnadóttir

doi:10.3390/su11226340

Abstract

Transport is a key sector in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A consensus prevails on a causal relationship between distance to the city center and emissions from private transport, which has led to an emphasis on density in urban planning. However, several studies have reported a reverse association between the level of urbanity and emissions from long-distance leisure travel. Studies have also suggested that pro-environmental attitudes and climate change concerns are unrelated or positively related to emissions from long-distance travel. The goals of this case study were to find out the structure, levels, distribution, and predictors of GHG emissions from the local, domestic, and international travel of young adults of the Reykjavik Capital Region. A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was utilized to calculate emissions, and the materials were collected with a map-based online survey. International leisure travel dominated the overall GHG emissions from personal travel regardless of residential location, modality style, or income level. A highly unequal distribution of emissions was found. A higher climate change awareness was found to predict higher GHG emissions from trips abroad. Emissions from leisure travel abroad were the highest in the city center, which was related to cosmopolitan attitudes among downtown dwellers.

Highlights

IntroductionThe amount of carbon that can be safely emitted without reaching 1.5-degree warming (i.e., global carbon budget) can be as low as 420 GtCO2-eq [2], just ten times the current annual emissions
A record amount of 42 Gt of CO2 was emitted in 2017 [1]
Following the findings presented in the previous section, the respondents were divided into four groups based on their overall greenhouse gas (GHG) loads from leisure travel to analyze the characteristics of the more and less mobile people: Non-emitters, middle group, top 20% emitters, and top 5% emitters

Summary

Introduction

The amount of carbon that can be safely emitted without reaching 1.5-degree warming (i.e., global carbon budget) can be as low as 420 GtCO2-eq [2], just ten times the current annual emissions. Higher budget estimations have been presented as well [3,4], but it is evident that rapid and deep emission cuts need to take place, even if the aim is to avoid 2-degree warming [2]. Electrification and the development of other alternative power sources are likely to lead to a reduction in the emissions from the transport sector, but structural changes, such as improving the efficiency of freight [5], reducing travel demand, and modal shifts to low-carbon modes, may be necessary to reach deeper mitigation [1]

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Conclusion