POW UK Launches Clean Miles Report Calling for Better Low-Carbon Access to the Outdoors

Protect Our Winters UK Launches "Clean Miles" Report: A New Vision for Sustainable Travel to the Outdoors

Protect Our Winters UK (POW UK) has announced the publication of its new report, Clean Miles: Low carbon transport to the outdoors for all. The landmark report explores how the outdoor community can travel to the places they love in ways that protect those environments for the future, calling for systemic changes to make sustainable travel accessible, affordable, and practical for every adventurer.

Transport is currently one of the biggest contributors to the outdoor community's carbon footprint. Too often, accessing nature requires driving or flying because low-carbon public alternatives remain expensive, unreliable, or simply not designed to accommodate adventurers travelling with skis, bikes, boards, and backpacks. The Clean Miles report tackles this challenge head-on, offering clear evidence and actionable recommendations.

The report’s findings that apply across outdoor sports communities are supported by 47 organisations from sporting National Governing Bodies and NGOs to large travel operators. 

They are strongly echoed by professional athletes who deal with these logistical barriers firsthand:

Double Olympian ski racer Charlie Guest said: "The truth is, at the moment, public and sustainable transport is not designed for those travelling for sports. As athletes, performance matters, and the barriers that consistently pop-up when using public transport, such as delays, slow services, inconsistent services, and lack of clarity around equipment, mean that the default for athletes is to travel by car and plane as it reduces mental load.
The tough part is, that transport has effectively been weaponised against athletes, meaning that they feel that they cannot talk about climate, or have a voice on climate, because they fly and drive. This is simply not true. In reality it puts athletes into the perfect space to use their voices and platforms to call for change, because we see the impacts of an over-heating world on the ground across all of our outdoor sports every year. The whole system needs to be flipped - make sustainable transport the easy option. If it were designed to make lives easier, it would be the go-to. That is what Clean Miles is calling for.”

Skeleton racer and Olympic medallist Laura Deas said: "As an athlete alliance member I am passionate about making as many climate positive changes as possible, and transport is something that is part of everyday life for millions of us. The Clean Miles campaign is highlighting how improvements to public transport can have a huge impact on how easy it could and should be for travel adventures- simple things like having good options to outdoor destinations, which are affordable and accessible, and simple and fair baggage policies."

POW UK Athlete Alliance member and mountaineer Iain Innes said: “As athletes, many of us want to reduce the climate impact of our travel and choose public transport wherever possible. In practice, however, travelling to outdoor destinations with specialist equipment can be difficult. Whether it's skis, climbing gear or paragliding equipment, inconsistent baggage policies, limited storage space and unclear information often make journeys unnecessarily complicated.

I've regularly chosen trains and buses over driving when it has been practical, but there are still many destinations where the connections, journey times or equipment restrictions make public transport difficult to use. Better-connected services, clearer booking systems and more consistent provision for outdoor equipment would make it much easier for athletes to choose lower-carbon travel options and spend less time worrying about logistics.”

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