Overland to Copenhagen

Later today I'll be setting off for Copenhagen by train. I'm going to Copenhagen to represent WEN at the climate change negotiations which is both a huge privelege and a responsibility. But I'm also excited about getting there: I love overland travel, and as this journey includes short stops in two great European cities, Brussels and Cologne, I'm pretty excited.

I'm also pretty happy that, although my journey won't be carbon-free, it will be a lot lower carbon that if I was flying: according to Transport Direct, the emissions from my journey will be 55.3kg CO2, compared to 164kg by plane. This doesn't take into account the increased warming effect of emissions released at altitude, which, based on the UK government's figures, would mean that the warming effect of my journey had I travelled by plane was actually the equivalent of 410kg CO2. Given that a roughly sustainable level of CO2 emissions is around 1000kg per person each year, the flight would have accounted for almost half my emissions for the year. By the time I'd come back by plane, I'd have pretty much blown my entire year's carbon budget (if there were such a thing).

Unfortunately, at the moment, because when we choose to fly we're not paying the true cost of our journey, we contine to use this carbon-intensive form of transport, even for relatively short domestic journies. Although this isn't something that will be sorted out at Copenhagen, it shows that there's still a long way to go on real action to tackle climate change.

Until recently, there were plans for big expansion at airports across the UK. Yet this week has seen a report from the Committee on Climate Change that seems to finally accept that the growth of the aviation industry needs to be curbed. It might not say all the right things (it doesn't rule out Heathrow's third runway, for example), but is a step in the right direction. As Leo Murray points out, unless we want to make bigger cuts elsewhere (perhaps we could stop eating, or turn the heating off?) in order to carry on our love affair with flying, it's time to face that avitation has got to give.

Figures from the Department for Transport show that women are much more likely to support limits to airport expansion on environmental grounds. So perhaps we need some more women involved in decision making about aviation policy? Of the nine individuals on the Committee on Climate Change, only one, Professor Julia King, is female. The Transport Select Committee, which also published a (rather less positive) report on aviation this week, has only two women among the eleven members of its committee. There's clearly a long way to go...