Long-distance passenger travel has received rather sparse attention for decarbonization. Here we characterize the long-distance travel pattern in England and explore its importance on carbon emissions from and decarbonization of passenger travel. We find that only 2.7% of a person’s trips are for long distance travel (>50 miles one-way), but they account for 61.3% of the miles and 69.3% of the greenhouse gas (CO₂ equivalent) emissions from passenger travel, highlighting its importance for decarbonizing passenger transport. Long-distance travel per person has also been increasing over time, trending in the opposite direction to shorter-distance travel. Flying for leisure and social purposes are the largest contributors to long distance miles and emissions, and these miles are also increasing. Overall, per capita travel emissions have started decreasing slowly from 2007, but are still higher than in 1997. We propose a new metric—emissions reduction sensitivity (% emission reduced/% trips altered)—to understand the efficiency of travel demand related initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Long-distance travel—especially flying—can offer orders of magnitude larger emissions reduction sensitivity compared with urban travel, which suggests that a proportionate policy approach is necessary.

长途客运旅行对于脱碳的关注相当少。在这里，我们描述了英国的长途旅行模式，并探讨了其对旅客旅行碳排放和脱碳的重要性。我们发现，只有 2.7% 的人的旅行是长途旅行（单程 > 50 英里），但它们却占了 61.3% 的里程和 69.3% 的温室气体（CO ₂ 当量） ）旅客旅行产生的排放，凸显了其对于客运脱碳的重要性。随着时间的推移，人均长途旅行也一直在增加，与短途旅行的趋势相反。出于休闲和社交目的而飞行是长途飞行里程和排放的最大贡献者，而且这些飞行里程也在增加。总体而言，人均旅行排放量从 2007 年开始缓慢下降，但仍高于 1997 年。我们提出了一个新的指标——减排敏感性（排放量减少百分比/旅行改变百分比）——以了解与旅行需求相关的举措的效率，以减少排放量。减少温室气体排放。与城市旅行相比，长途旅行（尤其是飞行）可以提供大几个数量级的减排敏感性，这表明有必要采取相称的政策方法。