Dutch Party for the Animals takes train instead of plane to climate top

Last week, the 24th international climate conference of the United Nations started in the Polish city of Katowice. The representatives of the Dutch Party for the Animals (PftA) took the train to the conference. With that, the PftA was the only Dutch party and one of the few foreign guests that did not go by plane.

Dutch delegation in train on their way to climate conference in Poland

Three years after the historic climate top in Paris, the world leaders and more than 20,000 other participants reunited to make further agreements in their fight against climate change. This time it took place in the Polish city of Katowice.

Contrary to many other politicians who visited the climate top, Lammert van Raan, Dutch Lower House MP of the Party for the Animals, opted for the train instead of the plane. It took him 13 hours to get there and the journey by train was hundreds of euros more expensive than the plane.

“I feel happier doing this”, according to Van Raan. He is a great advocate for people to fly less. Now that it is obvious that radical measures need to be taken to stop climate change and to keep the planet liveable for future generations, Van Raan prefers to go by train. “It took some time to figure out how to get to Katowice by train. It is up to the others if they want to go by plane. I don’t want to finger-point at anyone.”

The Dutch Party for the Animals makes a plea for better sustainability measures at national and international levels. Apart from the livestock industry, the aviation industry is also a major polluter which should be severely dealt with according to the party. The Lower House already agreed with a Party for the Animals’ motion in 2014, which said that MPs should in future travel by train instead of plane for journeys up to a maximum of 750 kilometres. The limit for train travel used to be 500 kilometres until then.

Additionally, the Party for the Animals makes a plea for investments into fast and affordable international train connections, to make the train a truly good alternative to environment polluting planes.