Air travel is the world's fastest growing source of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which cause climate change. Globally the world's 16,000 commercial jet aircraft generate more than 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the world's major greenhouse gas, per year. Aviation generates nearly as much CO2 annually as that from all human activities in Africa. One person flying a return trip between London and New York generates between 1.5 and 2 tonnes of CO2.

The huge increase in aircraft pollution is largely due to the rapid growth in air traffic which has been expanding at nearly two and half times average economic growth rates since 1960. It is expected the number of people flying will virtually double over the next 15 years. This means increasing airport capacity, more flights, more pollution and increasingly crowded airspace.

 In 1999 the world's top climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published a detailed study of the impact of aircraft pollution on our atmosphere - Aviation and the Global Atmosphere.

The report's findings support the following:

• Aircraft released more than 600 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere in 1990.
• Aircraft currently cause about 3.5% of global warming from all human activities.
• Aircraft greenhouse emissions will continue to rise and could contribute up to 15% of global warming from all human activities within 50 years.
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and water vapour from aircraft engines are important greenhouse gases. Water vapour contributes to the formation of contrails, often visible from the ground, which in turn are linked to an increase in the formation of cirrus clouds. Both contrails and cirrus clouds warm the Earth's surface magnifying the global warming effect of aviation. Together, NOx and water vapour account for nearly two-thirds of aviation’s impact on the atmosphere. Hence any strategy to reduce aircraft emissions will need to consider other gases and not just CO2.
• An increase in the number of supersonic aircraft could further damage the ozone layer as aircraft emissions of NOx deplete ozone concentrations at high altitudes, where these aircraft would typically fly.
• The impacts on the global atmosphere from air travel will be concentrated over Europe and the USA where 70-80% of all flights occur. Hence the regional climatic impacts of aircraft emissions over these areas are likely to be greater than predicted by the IPCC report (which used global averages).

Most significantly, it concluded that improvements in aircraft and engine technology and in air traffic management will not offset the projected growth in aircraft emissions. That is, we need to slow the growth in air travel if we want to reduce the growth in aircraft greenhouse gas emissions.

Is the Industry Accountable?

Emissions from international aviation are specifically excluded from the targets agreed under the Kyoto Protocol. Instead, the Protocol invites developed countries to pursue the limitation or reduction of emissions through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). To date, ICAO had not agreed any specific action, although its environmental committee is considering the potential for using market-based measures. Emissions from domestic aviation are included within the targets agreed by countries. However, the UK climate change strategy does not include any measures for tackling the domestic aviation sector.

Furthermore, despite the UK Government’s stance that aviation and its users should pay for the social and environmental costs they impose, there is no duty on kerosene. The absence of a fuel tax, or an emissions based levy, allows airlines to charge artificially low fares as the cost of pollution is passed on to society and not the passenger.

A New Approach

If aviation had to meet its external environmental and social costs in full, and did not benefit from large subsidies, the growth in demand for air travel would be much slower*. Additionally, airlines would have an added economic incentive to invest in the cleanest technology available.  Using market-based measures to correct these market distortions is central to delivering a sustainable aviation policy. This year, the European Commission is expected to publish a Communication on air transport and climate change which is expected to recommend the inclusion of aviation in the European emissions trading scheme, although potential roles for taxes and charges are unlikely to be ruled out.    

The role of rail Over short distances (e.g. routes around 500km) air travel produces up to three times more carbon dioxide per passenger then rail. Yet nearly 70% of all flights within European airspace are less than l000km long. With over 7½ million flights within European airspace in 1998, there is a lot of scope to move short haul flights to rail. As well as less pollution, rail companies can boast faster check in times, city centre to city centre travel and less frequent delays than most airlines.

Teleconferencing Advances in telecommunications can reduce the need to travel. Tele- and video-conferencing are increasingly becoming a viable alternative to flying for many business travellers.

Carbon offsetting

A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from a third party, aimed at cancelling out (offsetting) the emissions arising from a particular activity. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby combat global warming. If all emissions are completely offset, the activity is called "carbon neutral".

Carbon offsets can be purchased by individuals, businesses and governments from a variety of commercial and non-commercial organisations. For example, the UK government purchased offsets for the air travel required for the 31st G8 summit.

Offset activities can vary widely; the most frequent are planting trees and energy conservation activities. Carbon offset providers often provide a "carbon calculator" for individuals to estimate the carbon dioxide emissions arising from their consumption of electricity, petrol, air travel, etc - a sort of ecological footprint for global warming.

Limited value of carbon offsetting - Voluntary carbon offsetting may help to raise consumer awareness but does not solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions from flying. Offsetting schemes aim to calculate the damage caused by an individual flight and allow the traveller to "pay" for the environmental damage by donating to organisations which will, for example, plant trees or invest in low carbon technology in the developing world. While offsetting sounds attractive it has several important flaws. The different schemes come to wildly different conclusions about how much carbon any given flight generates. Are some of them dramatically under-estimating the damage from flying? Does offsetting amount to a token gesture to salve the conscience, when the ethical choice is to use a different mode or not travel at all?  AirportWatch does not recommend any particular carbon offsetting schemes. Instead it argues for changes to tax and charging rules to achieve consistent and fair restitution for the damage caused by flying.

For more information:

Growth Scenarios for EU & UK Aviation: contradictions with climate policy 93 page report produced by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change for Friends of the Earth in 2005. Shows how aviation growth could wreck UK and EU policies to tackle climate change

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/aviation_tyndall_research.pdf

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/aviation_tyndall_summary.pdf

Stop Climate Chaos  aims to build a massive coalition to create an irresistible mandate for political action to stop human-induced climate change. See http://www.stopclimatechaos.org    

Sources –

Wikipedia

Airport Watch

AirportWatch is the campaign to oppose unnecessary, unsustainable and irresponsible airport expansion across the UK. 

AirportWatch was formed in 2000. It unites the national environmental organisations and the airport community groups who are opposed to the Government’s plans for airport expansion, as set out in the Aviation White Paper (published in December 2003). AirportWatch campaigns for a demand management approach to aviation.  Demand for air travel could be dampened down by government removing the considerable tax breaks the aviation industry receives.  The Real Cost of Air Travel, published by the Aviation Environment Federation (a member of AirportWatch), revealed that if, over the next 25 years, aircraft fuel – at present tax-free – was to be taxed as the same rate as petrol for cars and VAT was to be charged on aviation transactions, the predicted rise in air travel would be cut by half, ruling out the need for any more runways anywhere in the country.

AirportWatch is an umbrella organisation.  Its members and supporters include the Aviation Environment Federation, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Transport 2000, the Woodland Trust, the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection, the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds as well as the many community groups protesting about expansion at airports across the country.

AirportWatch seeks both to support its members and supporters in their campaigning and to complement the work they are doing:

•    our website offers links to other organisations, particularly to the reports and briefings they produce on aviation matters;

•    airportwatch is also updating its own briefing material on both key issues – noise, climate change, air pollution, employment, health  – and on campaigning and networking.

AirportWatch aims to be a resource which campaigners can use.  We want to help people campaign more effectively by pointing them in the direction of useful material and keeping then updated with the latest news. AirportWatch, above all, wants to help people to become part of an effective network which enables them to defeat expansion plans at their airports and so roll back the tide of expansion being promoted by the Government and the aviation industry.