Heathrow Airport emits as much CO2 as four countries’ total CO2 emissions
as the total annual carbon emissions from Tanzania, Nepal, Mozambique and Uganda
combined, the World Development Movement has revealed. The statistics that refer
to Heathrow Airport relate to CO2 emissions only.
gases at altitude. It is widely accepted that the actual warming effect will
be 2-4 times greater than the warming effect of CO2 alone.
the government claims to be a world leader on climate change, UK carbon emissions
have increased since 1997. Although, the government has just announced a green
tax for aviation which is very welcome; emissions will only be stopped if the
new tax is set at a high enough rate and the government’s airport expansion plans
are scrapped.
from the UK’s share of international flights in its new climate change bill.
The World Development Movement points out that under current government airport
expansion plans, flights alone will account for almost half of the UK’s contribution
to climate change by 2050. Any government target to cut CO2 will be meaningless
if they do not include emissions from international flights.