Climate Change News

Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation

Transport Select Committee urges DfT to redraft planning policy statements to align with net zero objectives

The Transport Select Committee has criticised the DfT's planned revision of the National Networks National Policy Statement (NNNPS) for not giving sufficient weight to Net Zero. The Committee has published its analysis of the government’s proposals to revamp planning policies for nationally significant road and rail infrastructure projects (NSIPs).  They urged ministers to redraft sections that would be used to determine whether major new projects are compatible with net zero legislation, based on the carbon emissions that would be produced during and after their construction.  In its current form, the NNNPS would not cut emissions in live with decarbonisation targets. The Committee also made recommendations on the way the DfT looks at different options for projects, how to make its decision-making more transparent, and that calculations of future demand should be more transparent.  It proposes that there should be an over-arching Transport NPS, including airports, which would consider new infrastructure, its carbon emissions and impact on sites of biodiversity or geological interest.

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Airlines oppose Dutch plan to phase out EU fossil fuel subsidies

Airline bosses are, unsurprisingly, opposed to a Dutch plan for an EU-wide phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies. They say it should not be introduced, while rail travel is so expensive, and the airline sector does not yet have low carbon fuels. The Dutch government announced last month that it spent up to €46.4bn in 2023 supporting the use of fossil fuels, either through direct subsidies or tax schemes that indirectly led to more polluting energies being used. More than €3.6bn went to airlines, as fuel supplied for use in aviation is currently fully exempt from taxation in the EU.  The Dutch government is keen to reform the tax system and cutting subsidies was “crucial” to achieving a transition to lower carbon industries, and net zero by 2050.  An EU proposal to update energy rules in 2019, which aimed to remove many fossil fuel subsidies, stalled as it requires unanimous approval from all 27 member states, which it is unlikely to get. The Dutch government introduced a cap on flights at Schiphol earlier in the year.

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Grayling leads amendment to energy bill, to get more government funding for SAF

Rishi Sunak is under pressure from over 60 Tory MPs ito subsidise manufacturers of low-carbon aviation fuel in the UK to help the industry [allegedly] cut emissions. The MPs have signed an amendment to the government’s energy bill calling on ministers to introduce financial support to create a UK industry producing so-called "sustainable aviation fuels" (SAFs). The only possible hope the aviation industry has to cut its CO2 emissions in future, while growing as much as possible, is finding magical fuels that are considered low carbon. (Large hydrogen fuelled planes, or electric planes, are not realistic for decades, if ever).  The amendment to the energy bill, tabled by former Conservative transport secretary Chris Grayling, calls on the government to step in to create a “price stability mechanism” to incentivise fuel companies to produce more SAFs.  That is just what the sector wants. A subsidy from the public purse, for more flying. The government has pledged £165mn to encourage manufacturers to open at least five plants producing SAF, that they hope will start to be built by 2025. The extra subsidy would be even more.

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AEF’s Cait Hewitt: “I hope the era of aviation exceptionalism is over”

Cait Hewitt, Policy Direct or at the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) talks about the problem of UK aviation's planned expansion, and the absence of any measures to make any real dents in its growing carbon emissions. Well worth reading. A few quotes:  [on the current government's Jet Zero strategy that is built on highly “ambitious” assumptions of future technology, that does not yet exist.] Cait:  “If you went to the doctor as a smoker, and said, ‘What shall I do?’ And the doctor said, ‘I think you should carry on with your 40-a-day habit, because I’m a very optimistic person, I believe in future there’s going to be some technology that will allow us to replace your lungs.’ Would you describe that person as ambitious or just completely reckless?”  She acknowledges that people want to fly, but wishes that holidays were less about “an impressive sounding destination, and more about experience and adventure, and having time with your family. For children, you can do lots of fun stuff without having to travel that far.” She longs for is a sense of emergency and urgency to start to be demonstrated by politicians about the serious changes already becoming apparent from a warming planet.

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Scottish Greens: ‘Slap super rich with £1,000 tax every time they fly in a private jet’

People flying in private jets would be slapped with a £1000 tax every time they fly, to offset climate damage, under Scottish Green plans. The party said the “super tax” could be levied on any private flyer who lands in Scotland - with cash used to fund green policies like public transport schemes.  Green climate spokesman Mark Ruskell said just 1% of people cause about 50% of all global flight CO2 emissions. He claimed a private jet super levy could raise some £75 million in revenues for the Scottish Government.  Aviation is one of the few policy areas excluded from the SNP and Greens’ power-sharing deal at Holyrood. Now the party is challenging the SNP to use its devolved Air Departure Tax (ADT) to implement the measure.  ADT could only be levied on departing flights. Hundreds of private jets land in, and take off from, Scotland every week.  “This isn’t people having an annual family holiday to Spain - it’s luxury, often half-empty, and completely unnecessary private flights which are fuelling the burning of our planet... It’s time for us to say their private jets are not welcome in Scotland."

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Around 10% of departing flights from the UK are private jets

One in ten departures from UK airports are now private jets, analysis of official data after the pandemic, by the climate charity Possible, has found. In the 10 years before Covid, private jets accounted for about 7.5% of all UK departures. That rose to over 20% at times during the pandemic, and it is now about 10%.  On average the private planes carry 3 passengers. The emissions per passenger can be ten times those of the same trip in a commercial plane. In order to reduce the CO2 emissions from UK aviation, the number of private jet flights needs to be cut. Analysis of Air Passenger Duty (APD) data showed that about 20% of the smallest private jets paid no APD. A bit over 50% paid the same APD as premium economy passengers and around 25% paid the highest rate. Rather than largely being for business trips, most are now for leisure. The tax on these high carbon planes should be raised. Due to the tax on petrol and diesel, someone driving from London to Edinburgh could pay three times more tax than if they were flying by private jet.  Currently private jets attract no VAT, no fuel duty and often only a low rate of APD. 

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New NEF report indicates UK airport growth and air travel growth do not boost the economy

A new report, by Dr Alex Chapman of the New Economics Foundation, sets out the real environmental downsides of the growth in flight numbers.  It shows that the the sector has no realistic way to cut its carbon emissions. And contrary to the apparent impression given by the industry and the UK government, the economic assumptions that underpin support for growth in air travel are dated and have not been reviewed for some years. Contrary to expectations, growth in business passenger numbers has effectively ceased and new passengers now derive exclusively from the leisure market. Though there are social benefits from flying on holidays or to visit friends and family, these may be largely for a minority - and the negative impacts are felt by far more.  The airline sector is one of the poorest job creators in the economy per £ of revenue. Two decades of evidence confirms that air transport growth runs counter to the interests of the UK’s domestic tourism industry, as far more money is taken out of the country than brought into it. The net national effect is a large travel spending deficit which contributes to the UK’s overall current account deficit. There is an urgent need for new, comprehensive UK aviation policy, and assessment of impacts of its future growth.

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Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, to launch UK’s first electric airline in 2024

The green energy tycoon Dale Vince is planning to launch an electric airline, "Ecojet", which he thinks is "a move designed to prove polluting industries can decarbonise." The hope is it will launch early in 2024, with a 19-seater plane travelling on a route between Edinburgh and Southampton (which could be done by train). The planes will run initially on kerosene-based fuel for the first year, before being retrofitted with engines that convert so-called green hydrogen into electricity.  Vince said: “A lot of people seem to think that people who are eco-conscious want everyone to live a life of self-denial in a cave. Green living is not about giving things up – everything we like to have in this life can be done in a net zero life.” That, of course, depends on producing an immense amount of zero-carbon electricity without causing other environmental damage. Ecojet will at first have several 19-seater planes capable of travelling for 300 miles. Vince hopes to expand the number of routes out to cover all of Britain’s big cities. Then 18 months later, he hopes to have 70-seater planes capable of flying to Europe. The company is in the process of applying for a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority and securing takeoff and landing slots at airports.

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Gatwick submits plans for second runway to double passenger numbers

Gatwick has formally submitted plans for a £2.2bn second runway, as the airport looks to double its passenger numbers to 75 million a year.  There are the usual claims of more jobs and "a £1bn annual boost to the region", which ignores the impact of yet more holiday flights, taking money out of the region and reducing tourism spend in the UK.  The additional flights would significantly worsen noise and air pollution, as well as carbon emissions, from the airport.  The 30,000-page application for a Development Consent Order to convert its standby runway for routine use was lodged with the Planning Inspectorate on 6th. The process is expected to take about a year before it reaches the Transport Secretary for final approval.  The project will convert the emergency runway by moving its centreline 12 metres north, allowing planes to take off while others come in to land on the existing runway. There are road changes with additional local road lanes and flyovers. Gatwick has hopes work will start in 2025 for the runway to be in use by 2030. The political decision may potentially be just before or after a general election in 2025.  The extra million tonnes of CO2 per year are totally inappropriate, with worsening climate change and global heating already apparent.

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Report by the CCC to government shows failure on climate targets, including on airports and aviation

The Climate Change Committee, the government’s advisors on climate, have produced their 2023 report, which shows that targets are being missed on nearly every front. Fewer homes were insulated last year under the government-backed scheme than the year before. There is little progress on transport emissions, no coherent programme for behaviour change, and still no decision on hydrogen and boilers for home heating. Meanwhile the installation of new wind and solar farms and the upgrading of the electricity grid are still too slow to meet net zero. The lack of urgency of government and a failure of political leadership means progress has stalled. Greenhouse gas emissions have been falling by just under 3% a year, but this will need to double over the next eight years. Chris Stark, chief executive of the CCC, said what is missing is the right political leadership, at a high level to get actions done. On aviation it says there needs to be a framework to manage airport capacity. There has been continued airport expansion in recent years, counter to the CCC assessment that there should be no net airport expansion across the UK.

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