Possible is a charity based in the United Kingdom working towards a decarbonised" British society. Its "A Free Ride" campaign aims to limit the use of environmentally damaging forms of transport. Air transport is naturally one of them.
But this campaign also includes - less frequently - theidea of social justice. The charity wants to show that aviation is the domain of a select few. And that this privileged few should pay more for the air pollution they generate.
Possible has reworked a study published in 2014. The British Social Attitudes Survey showed that 15% of the UK population generated 70% of UK departing passengers. In 2018, 89% of air travel was for leisure.
Despite the boom in low-cost air travel, the study of Possible believes that less than 20% of the world's population has ever travelled by plane. Only 5% to 10% of the world's population travel by air each year. According to the study, the data is easily quantifiable for several countries, including the United States, Canada, France and the Netherlands.
According to US government statistics, two thirds of trips are carried out by 12% of the population. In Canada, this proportion stands at 22% of the population for 73% of flights. In the Netherlands, 8% of the population is responsible for 42% flights.
A tax for frequent travellers
In France, a 2008 study showed that 2% of passengers would contribute 50% of air travel. This figure is likely to have changed with the rise of the low-cost in France over the last decade. Current figures are likely to be close to those in the Netherlands.
The agency Eurostat indicates that within the Europe of 28 (at the time with the United Kingdom), 17% of the population made more than one air trip in 2014. The share of intra-EU travel amounted to 77%. In 2010, 20% of Europe's wealthiest households generated more than half the expenditure on air travel.
Visit AsiaIn Indonesia, the difference is even more striking: 2.6% of the Indonesian population generated 55.8% of foreign travel; 5% of the Chinese population contributed 40% of air travel, while in India, only 1% of the population generated 45% of all air travel.
Hence the argument of Possible according to which tax those who travel the most is probably the fairest way to mitigate environmental damage caused by air travel. The report recommends the introduction of a tax for frequent travellers. The more they fly, the more tax they will have to pay. The charity believes this is a fair reversal of the balance. This would then include frequent business travellers. With a new slogan that could be a hit in France: "pay more to steal more"!
