Barcelona is served by the AVE high-speed train service between Barcelona and Madrid, and most other cities in Spain, as well as trains from the French SNCF-run TGV high-speed network, with direct trains from Paris (6h 44mins), Lyon, and Perpignan.
We encourage all participants of the conference to investigate and consider possibilities to travel to Barcelona by train, minimizing the carbon footprint caused by their travel.
Emissions offset
Typical values for emission equivalents produced by air travel are between 250g/km for short domestic flights, and 150g/km for long-haul flights. A one-way flight for example from Amsterdam to Barcelona thus results in roughly 762kg CO2 emissions for a return flight (2,582 km): https://www.atmosfair.de/en/reduce/fix/, non-CO2 emission impacts not considered. Taking a long-distance train will reduce emissions to roughly 10% or less. https://ecotree.green/en/calculate-train-co2 (return 3,066km): 6kg CO2 emissions
Detailed calculation for your trip can be investigated at:
https://ecotree.green/en/calculate-train-co2
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode or
https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CarbonOffset/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.atmosfair.de/en/reduce/fix/
Should you decide to travel by air, you may wish to consider offsetting travel-related emissions through donations to solar, biomass, or energy-efficiency projects. Alternatively, you may compensate the CO2 emissions separately through atmosfair.com services or other similar organizations.
For the EMS2023 in Bratislava, 20% of the onsite attendees (or their employers) did pay compensation denotations to offset the emissions induced through their travelling to meeting.
Travel to Barcelona by train
To help your research on the best option for your journey by train, find links that provide some information on options for travelling across Europe by train.
- Collection of links on how to get to Barcelona by train: The man in seat 61 – highly recommended source!
- Information on trains across Europe, rail passes, and booking system
- Trains to Barcelona: tickets can be purchased online at the RNEFE website; for travel planning, tickets & prices, and services check out: https://www.renfe.com/es/en/travel/prepare-your-trip/ave-francia/destinos and https://www.renfe.com/es/en/travel/prepare-your-trip/billetes-ave-y-largadistancia/all-tickets; for any schedules see RENFE schedules:
Flying to Barcelona
The airport in Barcelona has direct links to most international airports throughout Europe. Arriving in Barcelona, there are different options to get to the city centre; the most used ones are trains by RENFE, Metro, and buses. For an overview see: https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/faq/airport/transport/00-faq-airport-transport.html
- Trains from the airport to the city centre: https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/airport/transport/barcelona-airport-train.html; travel time is approximately 20 minutes.
- Metro L9 Sud: https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/faq/airport/transport/metro/metro-to-barcelona-airport.html
- Airport shuttle Aerobus: https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/faq/airport/transport/aerobus/00-faq-airport-transport-aerobus.html