Environmental Impact of Long Distance Travel
Linda Christensen, LCH@Transport.dtu.dk
Introduction Results survey 2010-11
Each Dane has on average 5.5 low-frequent journeys with overnight stay(s) per year.
Roughly
• 1/3 are international,
• 1/3 goes to second homes and
• 1/3 goes to other domestic destinations.
Each Dane travel on average 7,777 km per year
• corresponding to 2 return trips from Copenhagen to Milan.
• 90% of the kilometres are bound for international destinations
• 2/3 of the kilometres are related to journeys with at least 5 overnight stays
• Annual increase is more than 3% per year
What is the effect on the climate of the Danes’ travel activities?
CO
2emissions in thousand tonnes from daily travel and long distance travel
CO2 emission in thousand
tonnes Car Public
transport Air In all
Domestic trips <100 km 6,993 118
Domestic trips > 100 km 1,673 222 80
Domestic trips with overnight
stay(s) 182 48
International one day travel 2
International travel with
overnight stay(s) 395 101
All International air travel 3,416
Total domestic 8,848 (95%) 389 (4%) 80 (1%) 9,317 (69%)
Total international 397 (9%) 101 (2%) 3,730 (88%) 4,228 (31%)
Total 9,245 (68%) 489 (4%) 3,810 (28%) 13,545 (100%)
The first part of the calculations to/from Denmark
1. Calculation of CO2 emission from the aircrafts at the first stage in and out of Denmark based on
– aircraft types and number of seats according to the OAG database – CO2 emission for each operation based on emission database:
• LTO part (taxiing in the airport, take off, climbing and landing) which is independent of the travel distance
• Cruise part dependent on the travel distance.
– distance between the airports 2. CO2 emission
– is applied for all passengers according to the Airport database (including transfer and transit passengers).
– A share of these passengers are Danes; the number is derived from the Sabre database.
– The calculated share is used as the CO2 emission for the Danish passengers at the first stage in and out of Denmark
3. Similar calculations are made for domestic travel, including the transfers between a province airport and Copenhagen.
The second part of the calculations
1. CO2 emission from all transfer and charter passengers is calculated for each pair of airports by multiplying
– The CO2 emission coefficient per seat kilometre, – the distance
– the number of Danish passengers according to the Sabre database – dividing by the seat occupancy
2. The CO2 emission per seat kilometre based on an average out of Denmark – the calculated CO2 emission per flight for the first stage flights
– the number of seats per plane according to the OAG database – the distance between the two airports.
3. The seat occupancy is calculated based on an average out of Denmark – the number of seats from the OAG database
– the overall number of travellers according to the Airport Database.
4. CO2 emission per seat kilometre and seat occupancy is chosen for different distances
• A higher seat occupancy is chosen for the charter travel
Choice of emission coefficients
• For the trips between a hub and the final destinations the parameters to be used for the calculations must be chosen
• CO2 emission for flights > 1000 km and for 1500-4000 km
• 85 g/seat km for > 4000 km 71 g CO2 per seat kilometre
• Average seat occupancy: 82% Average seat occupancy 73% for 1,500-
4,000 km
Choice of emission coefficients
• 1000-1500 km < 1000 km
• CO2 per seat km:-0,0697*distance+175 0,1546*distance + 245
• average seat occupancy: 71% for 69%
• Charter: average seat occupancy 90%
Travellers and CO
2emission for different types of air travel
Travellers
[Mio.] CO2/pass km [g/km]
Domestic 0.83 (7%) 323
Between DK and
destination/ first transfer 6.87 (58%) 121
Charter 2.51 (21%) 82
Transfer and between
transfer and final destination 2.69 (14%) 110 Car travel (car occupancy
2.02 passengers) 102
Trains (used for all public
modes) 57
Accumulated share of CO2 emission,
passenger stages and passenger kilometres
Share of CO
2emission (left) and passenger stages (right)
for direct scheduled air traffic, charter and transfer
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000 6500 7000 7500 8000 8500 9000 9500 10000 10500 11000 11500 12000
Distance from Danish airport
Share of passengers
Transfer Charter
Scheduled from Denmark
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000 6500 7000 7500 8000 8500 9000 9500 10000 10500 11000 11500 12000
Distance from Danish airport Share of CO2 emission
Transfer Charter
Scheduled from Denmark
Thank you for listening
Any questions?
