Archived press release

Government aviation strategy still on climate collision course

14 December 2006

UK aviation policy remains on a climate change collision course today, after the Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander refused to scrap plans to expand UK airports. Friends of the Earth said that it was becoming increasingly clear that the Government lacked the political courage to cut UK carbon dioxide emissions.

The Government green light for a massive rise in air travel comes despite mounting concern about the impact that air travel will have on global warming. In October the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University warned that it will be impossible to meet the UK‘s 60 per cent carbon reduction by 2050 climate target without curbing aviation growth [6].

Friends of the Earth’s aviation campaigner Richard Dyer said:

“UK aviation policy is on a climate change collision course. But despite repeated and increasingly loud warnings about the impact of building new runways, Douglas Alexander has refused to alter direction. The Government must listen to the alarm bells, abandon its airport expansion plans and take urgent action to cut carbon dioxide emissions.”

“Despite promises of significant cuts, carbon dioxide emissions have risen under Labour. This is why the proposed new law on climate change must require annual cuts in emissions. Furthermore, Government targets must include UK international aviation and shipping emissions too.“

“Bringing aviation into an EU Emissions Trading Scheme is not a solution to the aviation industry’s impact on climate change. It will not be introduced for a number of years and is unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the growth in air travel. ETS does have a role to play, but we need other measures too to ensure that aviation plays its part in the development of a low-carbon economy. “

A Friends of the Earth briefing on aviation and climate change can be found at:
www.foe.co.uk/resource/media_briefing/alexanders_first_test.pdf (PDF)

Aviation is the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide in the UK.

• Carbon emissions from UK aviation increased by 11 per cent in 2004 alone [1] and are estimated to increase four fold between 2000 and 2050 [2].

• Aviation emissions are estimated to have between two and four times the climate change impact of carbon emissions alone due to complex chemical reactions at altitude [3].

• There is no prospect of a significant technological breakthrough that will reduce aircraft emissions. Gradual improvements might manage 1.2 per cent per year reduction in emissions [4]. But this is inadequate to counter the current growth in passengers of 6.4 per cent per year [5].

• The Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University recently concluded [6] that it will be impossible to meet the UK‘s 60 per cent carbon reduction by 2050 climate target without curbing aviation growth.

• Recent research by the respected Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research [7] found that a more ambitious 90 per cent cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 - and around 70 per cent by 2030 - is necessary. Tyndall also warned that aviation could account for all of the UK’s budgeted carbon emissions within 30 years [7]

Friends of the Earth is calling for the Government rethink aviation policy, including:

• Airport expansion plans to be cancelled;

• A further increase in Air Passenger Duty (APD) – there was a modest rise in last week’s Pre Budget Report - and a commitment to increase it annually as an interim measure until other effective economic measures to reduce air travel growth and reduce emissions are available;

• Honesty and openness from the Government about the scale of the challenge and necessary solutions to enable the aviation industry and public to plan and adapt for the future.

• Through The Big Ask climate campaign, Friends of the Earth has led the call for a new law to tackle climate change. The environmental campaign group is calling for new legislation requiring annual cuts in UK carbon dioxide emissions. The demand is supported by around two thirds of all MPs, all the main opposition parties and a wide coalition of organizations. The Government has announced that a new climate change law will be introduced, and is currently consulting on the details of what it will contain. It must include aviation emissions and annual targets that will force successive governments to take serious action to tackle climate change, and to implement policies that will actually achieve them. (www.thebigask.com).

Notes

[1] DEFRA figs inc. international flights
[2] page 14, ‘Predict and Decide: Aviation, Climate Change and UK Policy’ – University of Oxford, 17 October 2006
www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/predictanddecide.php
[3] page 16 -17, ‘Predict and Decide’
[4] based on IPCC findings, see:-see page 8 “Growth Scenarios..” www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/transport/news/tyndall_launch.html
[5] Eurostat figs see:- page 49 “Growth Scenarios..”
www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/transport/news/tyndall_launch.html
[6] Predict and Provide
[7] The Future Starts Here – the route to a low carbon economy (Research for The Co-operative Bank and Friends of the Earth by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change)
www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/low_carbon_economy.pdf (PDF)
[8] ‘Decarbonising the UK’ www.tyndall.ac.uk/media/press_releases/tyndallpr21sep.pdf (PDF)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust