Aviation: Carbon Emissions
Transport
Written answers and statements, 5 November 2009
David Drew (Stroud, Labour)
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what arrangements he has put in place to enable airlines to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions; and what arrangements he has put in place to (a) monitor and (b) report on those airlines' performance in reducing emissions.
Paul Clark (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Gillingham, Labour)
The inclusion of aviation in the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS) enables the aviation sector to take responsibility for its carbon dioxide emissions in the most cost-effective way. All flights departing from and arriving at EU airports will be included in the EU ETS from 2012. The EU ETS caps total emissions to a fixed limit, with operators required to surrender allowances for each reporting year to cover their total emissions. Any increase in emissions above these levels must be matched by emissions reductions elsewhere within the aviation sector or in another sector within the wider ETS. Aircraft operators will be encouraged to reduce their CO2 emissions through investment in greener aircraft technology and by developing the use of alternative fuels. In the UK, the Environment Agency will regulate the aviation EU ETS in England and Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency regulating operators in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively. Aircraft operators covered by the EU ETS must monitor their CO2 emissions from
In January of this year, the Government announced a target to bring UK aviation CO2 emissions in 2050 to below 2005 levels and has asked the Committee on Climate Change to advise on this. The committee is due to report by December 2009. Once the Government have received the committee's advice, they will determine the best basis for taking the target forward.
The European Commission is considering the utility of different options for EU-wide measures that address aviation emissions of NOx (oxides of nitrogen). Certification standards for NOx emissions are set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The UK takes a leading role in this forum and expects a tightening of these standards to be agreed next year. ICAO has published guidance on emission charges related to local air quality. The 2006 Civil Aviation Act permitted such charges to be levied and the operators of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton now impose a charge related to the certification performance of landing aircraft to incentivise the use of cleaner aircraft.
Annotations
John Byng
Posted on 6 Nov 2009 11:15 am (Report this annotation)
These measures are not nearly adequate because demand for aviation is unfairly inflated by tax concessions worth £9 billion a year in the UK alone and by similar concessions throughout the world. This has encouraged the most damaging form of transport to expand at the expense of far less damaging road, rail, canal and sea forms.
The argument that we can't act on tax unilaterally is false; we tax smoking and drinking heavily for social reasons and we can do the same for aviation for economic and environmental reasons. The first countries to do so will be the first to benefit.
Such favouritism to aviation at the expense of the rest of the economy is not only damaging to the environment it is also inefficient. The UK Government and the EU should be acting to remove or counteract the tax concessions urgently.