In times of budgetary scarcity and climate emergency, how can we imagine new ways to finance the ecological transition? This Friday, September 20, young activists from Fridays for Future (FFF), a movement founded by Greta Thunberg, are striking in four cities in France to make a demand: “taxing frequent air travellers to fund the train”. An idea that will also be at the heart of two upcoming reports, one from the Climate Action Network (RAC) and the other from the Rester sur Terre network. The organizers of the marches remind us: “The plane is on average 20 to 50 times more CO2 emitting than the train. However, a train ticket is on average 2.6 times more expensive than a plane ticket for the same destination.” The movement therefore proposes a tax to rebalance prices, in favor of the “lowest carbon” means of transport.
Why target the aviation sector, which accounts for around 3% of global emissions? “It is an extremely polluting sector in France, and used by a minority of people”answers Ismaël Paillard, from Fridays for Future. “Since the 1990s, the aviation sector has been one of the few sectors not to have undertaken to reduce its emissions, says Alexis Chailloux, head of air and rail at the RAC. International traffic has returned to pre-Covid levels and the industry continues to expect growth of 2% per year, which is not compatible with the Paris Agreement.” which aims to limit climate change to +1.5°C. Emissions could thus triple by 2050. According to Ademe, which studied several scenarios for the ecological transition of the sector in 2022, the only effective lever in the short term would be “traffic control and reduction”However, the prices charged do not encourage moderation.
“The richest and most mobile passengers”
Environmental NGOs regret that aviation is exempt from taxes on kerosene and that it does not apply VAT on international flights. As the idea of a contribution on a European or even international scale is stalling, several countries have already taken the lead. In France, since 2020 there has been the “Chirac tax” proportional to the distance traveled and the class chosen by the passenger (1.50 euros for a flight in Europe and 3 euros for an international flight in economy class, with a maximum of 18 euros in business class). Much less than in the United Kingdom, Germany or the Netherlands. “It does not generate significant revenue for the state and it does not discourage people from flying,” regrets Alexis Chailloux, who dreams of seeing this tax increased in the draft finance law (PLF) for 2025 expected shortly. This is what the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate in 2020, by recommending, for example, 60 to 400 euros of eco-contribution for a flight of more than 2,000 kilometers depending on the class chosen.
The ideal would still be, for the RAC and Fridays for Future, to tax frequent air travellers instead, a path considered fairer because it is more progressive. “The tax we propose would adapt to the frequency and length of air flights. It would increase progressively as the person travels. The wealthiest and most mobile passengers would therefore contribute to financing greener transport in a logic of social and climate justice,” Fridays for Future develops. Very concretely, for a first flight in the year, the eco-contribution would be zero or low, but with each additional flight, it would become more significant. Thus, for four or five flights in the year, the surcharge would climb to several hundred euros per ticket. “The aim is not to affect all households indiscriminately, who sometimes need to make exceptional international flights, but to penalise those who make the most round trips.”adds Ismaël Paillard.
Directing revenue to the train?
In a forthcoming report, the RAC intends to quantify the cost of such a measure in France. While waiting to reveal all his calculations, Alexis Chailloux indicates that ““We would achieve a double-digit reduction in emissions from the sector” and that “The tax would generate several billion euros in revenue, while restricting the effort to a minority of people.” But would it really be possible to channel such new revenues towards the train to lower ticket prices, as Fridays for Future is calling for? According to Alexis Chailloux, a possible “frequent flyer tax” could easily follow the same path as the Chirac eco-contribution, i.e. be paid into the French Transport Infrastructure Financing Agency. This revenue could allow for new investments, assures the RAC specialist: “This could help to finance more night trains and increase the frequency of trains on the network. However, the greater the rail offer, the more the price of train tickets will fall.”
Source: www.liberation.fr
