We fly like never before.
But fewer people want to brag about their travels. ”It’s starting to get a little embarrassing to be an obvious climate destroyer,” says researcher Maria Wolrath Söderberg.
In 2018, SAS broke a new passenger record with 30.1 million travelers — an increase of 1.2 percent compared to the previous year.
According to Magnus Hurst, head of Investor Relations at SAS, the figures primarily reflect increased demand for leisure travel.
Earlier this week, Norwegian also published record figures for 2018. A total of 37.3 million passengers flew with the company — an increase of 13 percent, and it was also a record year for Finnair.
The increase is happening at the same time as the debate about the impact of aviation emissions on the environment has become increasingly extensive.
But despite increased awareness of aviation emissions, we continue to fly even more.
”We are quite good at making efforts that don't cost us much in sacrifice,” explains Maria Wolrath Söderberg, a lecturer in rhetoric at Södertörn University who researches how we justify our non-actions on the climate issue.
According to Wolrath Söderberg, most of us emit around 10-11 tons of greenhouse gases per year. To reach the Paris Agreement, we need to reduce emissions to 1.5-2 tons per person per year.
In a pilot study, Wolrath Söderberg and her research colleague investigated how people who consider themselves environmentally conscious justify their flying. A common strategy is to claim that they compensate by living an environmentally conscious lifestyle. But that strategy doesn't work, she says.
”"If you travel back and forth to Southeast Asia, you'll end up with about 2.5 tons of greenhouse gases, which means you wouldn't even be able to breathe for the rest of the year. You'd have to sort garbage for a couple of decades or be vegan for a couple of years to compensate for that flight."”
Another way to justify our actions is to claim that one's own contribution is negligible.
”It is true in itself that it does not matter much what individuals do, but it matters a lot what groups do and groups tend to influence the system,” says Wolrath Söderberg.
Earlier today, statistics were released showing that slightly more people traveled abroad from Swedish airports in 2018, but that fewer flew domestically.
Minister of the Environment Karolina Skog (MP) sees the decrease in domestic flights and the subdued increase in international flights as a sign of increased climate awareness following the debate surrounding the introduction of the aviation tax this spring.
At the same time, she states that long-distance travel will be one of the most difficult challenges in meeting the Paris goals.
”"Information plays an important role, but it will not be enough all the way. Political instruments will also be needed," says Skog, who places great hope in EU cooperation to improve the opportunities for increased train travel.
”It should be a core issue to ensure that we have good, high-quality train connections within Europe.”
Source: TT
Airlines' passenger figures 2018
Company: Number of passengers 2017; Number of passengers 2018; Increase in percentage
SAS: 29.7 million; 30.1 million; 1.2
Norwegian: 33.2 million; 37.3 million; 13
Finnair: 11.9 million; 13.3 million; 12
