81% of 18-35-year-olds are ready to change their travel habits out of concern for the environment or are already doing so, according to a survey conducted for Greenpeace in February 2022. However, most are not yet prepared to bid farewell altogether to air travel.
These sentiments evoke the 2018 Swedish phenomenon of "flygskam" ('flight-shaming' in Swedish), which highlights the environmental impact of air travel, which is responsible for approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions. Given that the majority of the world's population doesn't fly and those who do are a minority of the minority, this section of people have a comparatively enormous carbon footprint.
"We're a generation that was brought up in the mindset of 'we can go wherever we want, whenever we want' and now we find ourselves in the mindset of 'maybe we should stop'. [But] saying no to something forever is daunting," said Agathe Violain, a respondent to the survey.
Flying costs less
For Armelle Solelhac, founder of the Switch agency which specialises in tourism forecasting and strategy, states that "many young people say they want to favour less harmful transport modes but are still limited by their financial means... The fact is that plane tickets over certain distances are often much cheaper than the train or a trip by car."
The survey found that for 66% of young people who are considering a means of transport other than air travel, the primary motivation is cost. Only 13% look into alternatives for ecological reasons.
The carbon footprint of a particular form of transport was the last criterion cited when choosing a mode of transport. In fact, only "a slight majority of air travellers say they are sensitive about the carbon cost of their flight".
On the other hand, 38% of the young people said they "feel guilty when they fly and one in five feels pressure from family and friends".
Judged for boarding a plane?
Solehac also commented on the trend of self-censorship on social media, which results in fewer photos from an aeroplane window or in airports. Social media has seen a marked decline in images of flying and new tends to focus more on the destination itself.
Conversely, "some people glorify the fact that they travel by soft mobility" she said, citing the example of Thibaut Labey who lives in Morbihan, France, and founded the guide Chilowé, specialising in "outdoor micro-adventures". Labey recently attended a wedding in Morocco to which he travelled by train and bicycle from France.
Not flying "remains a delicate subject," Labey said. "I'm not trying to make people feel guilty. Making people feel guilty is not a good way to bring about change."
