This week, France officially enacted a ban on short domestic flights, claiming it was a major step in the fight against climate change. However, critics say the measure is largely symbolic, as it only applies to three routes and is riddled with exceptions. The ban does not apply to connecting flights, and it carves out an exception for Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, one of Europe’s busiest passenger hubs. Moreover, the French government has yet to make rail transportation more alluring, by helping the national railway company push ticket prices down and investing more in railway infrastructure. If the ban on short-haul flights only encourages French airports to reallocate more takeoff slots to long-distance ones, “we aren’t going to be saving a whole lot of CO2,” said Geneviève Laferrère, who handles transportation issues for France Nature Environnement. The government should focus on “tangible” goals, like sustainable aviation fuel and electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft, in order to make a real difference in the fight against climate change.
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