27 January 2011
This report provides the latest information on people’s attitudes towards climate change in relation to transport. The report covers: attitudes to climate change and the perceived impact from transport, personal transport behaviour and willingness to change behaviour to limit climate change and support for Government intervention to bring about such change.
With regards to air travel the report found that the respondents that travelled by plane were unrelated to how concerned they were about climate change, but appeared to be closely linked to how much they earned. In 2010, 23% of respondents were willing to reduce the amount they travelled by plane while 44% of respondents were unwilling to do so.
Those who flew the least often were the most willing to reduce their air travel. Of those who flew less than once a year (who accounted for 49% of all respondents) 29% were willing to reduce their air travel, higher than the 19% of those respondents who flew more often.
The survey found that there was net opposition (23%) to increasing fuel tax or other charges to encourage to people to travel by plane less, with 26% of respondents supporting and 49% of respondents opposing an increase in taxation.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/162469/221412/221513/4387741/climatechange2011.pdf