The economics of aviation
Updated on 13 August 2007
There's no doubt people care about the environment - the problem is we care far more about our two weeks in the sun.
Nearly 90 per cent of people recognise climate change is happening, and yet a recent Channel 4 News survey of travel agents found only two per cent of customers are cutting down on flying because they're worried about the carbon emissions they generate.
And last year only 0.5 per cent of all flights were off-set, via projects like tree planting.
So just how close to climate disaster is flying going to take us?
A new airline industry lobbying group says flying will get greener as it grows.
But emissions trading won't start till 2011 at the earliest and, despite ambitious emissions targets and a climate change bill on the table, there's not a single piece of government legislation designed to tackle aviation emissions.
Campaigners are swift to point out fuel and VAT tax breaks for aviation cost the treasury £9bn every year.
So when it comes to greening aviation, we might be heading into a spot of turbulence.
If emissions are left to grow unchecked, the government will miss its 2050 carbon dioxide reductions targets. But forcing passengers to pay the true environmental cost of flying - especially after the summer we've been having - will never be a vote winner.
Aviation figures
- Aviation counts for around 6 per cent of UK carbon emissions*
- Flying accounts for 10 per cent of our personal carbon footprint
- CO2 emissions from flying have doubled in last decade
- Number of UK air passengers to double againby 2030
Well, aviation only accounts for around 6 per cent of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions.*
But that figure doesn't tell us what we're personally responsible for, because much of the UK's emissions come from industry.
For the average Briton, flying accounts for 10 per cent of their personal carbon footprint. And then we're all flying more - six per cent more each year since the seventies.
In the last decade alone CO2 emissions from flying have doubled. And it's going to keep growing. The number of passengers travelling through UK airports is expected to double again by 2030.
*Correction
This figure includes international aviation and shipping - emissions that occur outside the UK.
The figure of 2 per cent originally given - and featured in the video above - for carbon emissions from the UK aviation industry was incorrect.
Correction posted: 27 November 2007
