Flying off course
Posted on 3 July 2004
This report has been sent to 500 key decision makers across the globe including the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the European Commission, World Bank, the USA, Canadian, UK and Australian governments, the Asian Development Bank, the governments of China and India, OECD and global aviation organisations.
The report has been produced in response to the urgent need globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the lack of progress in aviation in contributing to these reduction targets. The UK government in common with other governments in the EU has made a massive commitment to expand aviation. This report argues that airport expansion is on a collision course with targets to reduce greenhouse gases and avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
The report is the result of two years work in the University of York by Professor John Whitelegg and Howard Cambridge and it sets out a new model for dealing with aviation over the next 30 years.
Speaking today, John Whitelegg said "The growth in demand for flying is now one of the most serious environmental threats that the world faces. This growth has been fuelled by generous tax breaks and state aid and is contrary to the objectives of environmental policy especially efforts to prevent the worst consequences of climate change".
The report argues that aviation should play its full role in reducing greenhouse gases and suggests seven specific actions that can be implemented by the UK government and by the EU:
- Ending the tax-free status of aviation fuel
- Introducing an environmental charge for flying that is equal to the environmental damage caused by flying
- Implementing World Health Organisation guidelines on noise limitation and banning night time flights
- Increasing the use of public transport for access to airports to at least 50% of all trips
- Implementing the Zurich airport "bubble concept" that limits emissions of all kinds from airports and treats airports as if they were large industrial sites
- Transfer short (less than 400 miles) trips from air to train. This would reduce the number of flights by 45% and improve the quality of rail travel for everyone
- Encourage businesses to use electronic media (e.g. video-conferencing) as a substitute for a proportion of air trips
The report concludes by issuing a challenge to all those involved in aviation (global organisations, the aviation industry, environmental pressure groups, central and local government and residents around airports) to meet and produce a new consensus and a new approach to managing aviation.
Notes to editors:
- The full report can be found at www.sei.se/aviation
- Information on the Stockholm Environment Institute at York can be found at www.seiy.org
- The Stockholm Environment Institute is a global science policy institute funded entirely by research contract income. Its headquarters is in Stockholm (Sweden) and it has research centres at the University of York (UK), Boston (USA), Tallinn (Estonia) and Bangkok. It has a strong interest in contributing to the development of policy through the communication of policy relevant science directly to policy makers. Further details about SEI can be found at www.sei.se
- Climate change is a serious threat to the global environment and to millions of people around the world who live in coastal or vulnerable locations (floods, inundation, storms). It is costly and it has the potential to damage human health, biodiversity and the world economy. International organisations and the UK government have accepted that we should reduce greenhouse gases by 60% by 2050. This will not be possible if aviation continues to expand at its current rate