Indicators and policy innovation for sustainable aviation and trains

Emissions of greenhouse gases from long-distance travel amounted to about 11 million tonnes in 2018, of which aviation accounts for the major part. Air travel often crosses national borders and is not included in the territorial emissions. The potential for reducing climate impact from aviation through e.g. electrification is limited.

It is thus important to analyze how long-distance travel can transform to be in line with climate goals and which policy instruments are needed to get there.

Indicators are a way of communicating the sustainability of travel and we will develop new indicators for average emissions from the airlines' fleets and for the trade-off between travel time and emissions. We will then explore new policy instruments based on the indicators and how these interact with existing policies.

The project will result in an improved basis for travel policies and policy instruments, which in turn will lead to a more efficient resource use and a reduced climate impact.