Archived press release

Government delays decision on aviation emissions

25 August 2011

The Government has been slammed today (Thursday 25 August 2011) by Friends of the Earth for failing to endorse the previous administration's pledge to curb the future rise in emissions from flying.

In its response today to the Committee on Climate Change's 2009 report on options for reducing UK emissions from aviation to 2050, the Department for Transport said it hadn't yet decided whether it would adopt the Labour Government's target to cut carbon UK emissions from aviation down to or below 2005 levels by 2050.

Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Andy Atkins said:

"The Coalition's failure to endorse the previous government's pledge to curb future emissions from flying is astonishing - hardly the actions of the greenest government ever.

"Allowing aviation emissions to soar will make it much harder for the UK to play its part in tackling climate change, and could mean we'll need to make even bigger energy savings in our homes and businesses.

"Ministers must stop dithering, endorse the 2050 target and publish a new aviation policy which rules out all further airport expansion.

"Relying on biofuels is not the answer - producing them on the scale required would have a devastating impact on the planet."   

ENDS

Notes to editor:

1. The Government's response to the Committee on Climate Change's 2009 report on aviation can be found on the Department for Transport website.
2. The Committee on Climate Change's 2009 aviation report, with recommendations for reducing aviation emissions to 2050 is also available for download.  
3. The Government forecasts that UK carbon emissions from aviation (i.e. from flights departing from UK airports) will increase far beyond 2005 levels and will not start to fall until around 2045. This means that without further action, the UK will miss its target (set out by the Labour government) to cut emissions down to or below 2005 levels by 2050.
4. In June 2011 the European aviation industry announced plans to fuel its planes with two million tonnes of biofuels by 2020. A Friends of the Earth Europe briefing 'Flying in the face of facts: Greenwashing the aviation industry with biofuels', revealing the likely environmental impacts of the aviation industry's target, is available to download.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust