Sustainable Transport and the Environment Guide - Unite the Union

Air to rail
Six out of ten flights from London airports are to destinations that can, or could, be
reached by high speed rail. Switching these journeys to rail would be particularly
beneficial as short haul flights produce a high proportion of more dangerous
emissions and are particularly fuel inefficient, because take off uses up to 25 per cent
of the overall fuel. High speed rail produces only a fraction of such emissions,
according to the ILO/ITUC/UN ‘Green Jobs’ report. 15 The DfT estimates that short
haul air craft emit 0.15kg of CO 2 per passenger kilometre. This, multiplied by 2, (the
T&G’s estimate of the relative impact of radiative forcing) equals 0.3kg. The DfT
estimates that rail on average emits 0.04kg of CO 2 per passenger kilometre, which is
nearly 10 times less than short haul air.
Given that investment, particularly in public transport, is absolutely critical, the big
question is where are these funds to come from?. Some have called for a tax on fuel
and air passengers to be ring fenced for this purpose. Our government has fiercely
resisted this move so far but there is a danger of a political backlash.
The aviation industry argues that unlike other transport modes, it pays for its own
infrastructure. On the other hand it has been pointed out that in 2003 aviation
subsidies (exemptions from fuel duty and VAT) were worth £9 billion a year 16 , or
about £45,000 per job per year (based on ILO estimates of 200,000 employed in
aviation in the UK, broadly defined), and another report argued that this level of
subsidy finances job loss elsewhere in the transport sector that do not have the same
tax benefits 17 . Although the union currently supports Heathrow expansion if
sustainable, a report by the independent House of Commons research department in
February 2009 18 cast some doubt both on the projected level of economic benefits,
and on the likely level of technological breakthroughs. They argued the economic
benefit was nearer to £1.5 billion or less rather than £8.2billion cited in the White
Paper, partly because the government’s cost-benefit analysis “does not consider”
alternative schemes which this union also supports, such as high speed rail. As the
ILO report states: “A shift towards more sustainable transport is feasible, but it
requires careful planning and transition measures.”
Relocalisation 19
Buying locally manufactured goods and locally grown food, protecting local transport
and services, could impact on jobs in logistics distribution but would increase local
employment in the manufacturing, public transport and services sector more
generally.
15 p149
16 The Hidden Cost of Flying, Sewill, AEF 2003, confirmed by BAA consultants Volterra Since then,
inflation and the increased number of passengers increased this figure to £10billion but it was brought
back to £9bn by the rise in air passenger duty on 1/2/07.
17 Predict and Provide, Cairns and Newson, 2006
18 http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2009/rp09-011.pdf
19 Relocalisation means moving away from globalisation and back towards local production and
consumption
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