Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
“I’m trying hard to be eco-friendly. But please don’t ask me to give up flying to visit my family”
Tahmina Anam, a Pakistani living in Britain, argues that she cannot ever give up flying back home, however hard she wishes to cut her carbon emissions. The flights to visit friends and family are "love miles". She says "there is no other way to live apart, no other way to make it OK that our lives happen in each other's absence, than to allow ourselves the promise of regular visits." (Guardian Comment)
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Guardian’s top 100 flight free holidays
Guardian's top 100 flight free holidays
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Sir Nicholas Stern takes bleaker view on global warming
The internationally influential Stern report on climate change underestimated the risks of global warming and should have presented an even bleaker view of the future, according to its own author. He said he should have taken a much stronger stance in the report on the drastic consequences of failing to curb global warming, and defended his estimate of the cost of taking action on emissions as being about 1% of global GDP. (Financial Times)
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International aviation emissions now firmly on the post-Kyoto climate talks agenda
An attempt by the European Union, supported by nations such as Norway and New Zealand, to include aviation GHG emissions in an international climate change agreement when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 met with resistance from some developing countries at last week’s UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) climate change talks in Bangkok. (GreenAir news)
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Climate target is not radical enough – study
Nasa scientist, Dr James Hansen, warns the world must urgently make huge CO2 reductions. He warned that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting CO2 in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem. The EU target of 550 ppm C02 should be slashed to 350ppm. (Guardian)
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Scientists warn of soot effect on climate
Soot produced by burning coal, diesel, wood and dung causes significantly more damage to the environment than previously thought, according to research published today. So-called "black carbon" could cause up to 60% of the current warming effect of CO2, according to the US researchers, making it an important target for efforts to slow global warming. (Guardian)
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Transport tickets should show carbon footprint, says report
Plane and train tickets should reveal the environmental impact of individual journeys by stating the carbon emissions released on each trip. The Institute of Mechanical Engineers said branding tickets according to their green credentials should be one of a series of measures the government should adopt, so that having a large carbon footprint became "as socially unacceptable as drink-driving". (Guardian)
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Britons named world’s biggest emitters of CO2 from air travel
Britons produce more carbon emissions from air travel per head than any other country, a study reveals, (10th Oct 2007) citing the country's predilection for low-cost airlines as a major factor. The average carbon emission for each British flyer was 603kg (1329lb) a year, more than Ireland in second place and more than double that of the US at 275kg, in third place. (Guardian)
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Government announces annual targets for carbon reduction
Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment announced today that the Government would set an annual target range for emissions reductions. He also said the Climate Change Committee would be asked to consider whether the 2050 target for CO2 emissions should be tightened up to 80% reduction on the 1990 level. (FoE press release)
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True scale of C0 ² emissions from shipping revealed
The true scale of climate change emissions from shipping is almost 3 times higher than previously believed, according to a leaked UN study. It calculates that annual emissions from the world's merchant fleet have already reached 1.12bn tonnes of CO ², or nearly 4.5% of all global emissions of the main greenhouse gas. (Guardian)