Y4PT is happy to collaborate with AEGEE on Europe on Track 2

When we first heard about Europe on Track at Y4PT we immediately thought… what a great idea! What a great idea to open the mind of young Europeans, to encourage them to discover new cultures and new ways of thinking and to make them travel throughout Europe. So we asked ourselves, how could we contribute to this project? How could we bring the transport related issues to the heart of the project?

Considering that youth ambassadors will travel across Europe in April and May, covering more than 2500 km in total, we thought that there were no better way of contributing to the project then supporting the sustainable transport of the travellers, providing them the possibility to really think about their mobility choices! What is the impact of choosing to travel from Karlsruhe to Prague by plane rather than by train? What is the environmental impact of moving around in a city by metro or tram rather than by taxi or car? Do our mobility choices really matter?

To help them to answer this and other questions related to mobility, Y4PT has designed a carbon footprint calculator dedicated to transport. Based on this tool, the ambassadors will be able to realise how much greenhouse gases they emit while travelling and what impact their choice of mode of transport can have on these emissions. They will also be able to project the emissions associated with different travel plans and choose for the most environmentally friendly option.

At Y4PT we strongly believe that sustainable mobility is a key challenge for the well-being of European citizens. We also believe that in order to take action and to realise the impact of our travel choices on our greenhouse gas emissions, we have to be able to measure these. Our carbon footprint calculator will enable every Europe on Track ambassador to do so! As Europe on Track’s objective is to make us think about the Europe we want for our future, we want to take this opportunity to make us also think about the mobility we want for our future!

Written by Jerome Kisielewicz (jerome.kisielewicz@y4pt.org)