Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
Taxing kerosene on flights, at the level paid by motorists, could raise £6.7 billion a year for the UK Treasury
Revenues generated from a UK aviation kerosene tax could accelerate the reduction in aviation CO2 emissions, a new study by Transport & Environment (T&E) found. They calculated possible revenues that could be raised by the Treasury if the UK government were to impose a duty on the fuel (in a similar fashion to how road fuel is taxed) uplifted to planes in the UK. Airlines currently pay no fuel duty at all. To make matters worse, in further ignorance of the polluter pays principle – long-haul flights are not included in the UK ETS (the carbon market for aviation), long haul carrier airlines do not pay a penny for any of the emissions they cause. In contrast, jet fuel taken on for domestic aviation has been taxed for many years in countries such as the US, Japan, India and Brazil. In 2019 a kerosene tax at the same level as motorists pay, airlines would have collectively had to pay £6.7 billion for their fuel. Taxing domestic flights, which represent 19% of all UK departing flights, but only 4% of total jet fuel used, could generate £0.26 billion. For flights departing to the EU (65% of flights and 30% of jet fuel), revenues calculated were £1.93 billion. For flights to the US, the Treasury could generate £1.6 billion.
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Bristol Airport court case is test for Sunak’s green credentials, and test case for other airport expansion plans
The decision on whether Bristol Airport should be allowed to expand has faced a court challenge. Carla Denyer, the co-leader of the Green Party, has commented that this case has huge significance for the future not just of Bristol and the South West, but for the whole of the UK. Despite the expansion application being rejected by North Somerset council, in February of this year, the Government’s Planning Inspectorate overruled the public mandate and the views of local councillors, all the surrounding councils, the West of England Combined Authority, the local MPs and the vast majority of the local residents. The expansion of Bristol Airport would be catastrophic. The carbon emissions from the expansion alone will equate to an extra 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year. That’s double the annual carbon currently emitted by all the rest of Bristol’s transport. It is a nationally important test case for whether carbon emissions and the UK’s legally binding environmental targets can carry weight in planning decisions. Up to 20 other regional airports have plans to expand, and are waiting and watching this Statutory Appeal closely.
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Climate activists target private jet airports, asking that private jet travel is reduced
Protests by groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion, in the UK, have staged protests and two of the main airports that serve private jets. There were other protests in the US and in Europe, with several people arrested. Protests took place at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and also at airports in North Carolina, California and Washington State. In Europe there were protests at Schiphol in the Netherlands, Milan, Stockholm and Trondheim. The carbon emissions per passenger kilometre by users of private jets are perhaps 5-14 times as great as those in premium class seats on conventional jets, and much more than standard class passengers in a modern, full plane. With the severity of climate change becoming ever more apparent, the unnecessarily high carbon emissions by those who choose to fly in private jets are unacceptable. These flights are not only taken by politicians, eg. attending COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, but often by the very rich, celebrities etc. Governments need to clamp down on this unjustifiable burning of jet fuel.
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Greenpeace and XR climate activists storm Amsterdam Schiphol airport and block private jets
Dutch border police arrested hundreds of climate activists who stormed the private jet area of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and sat in front of the wheels of aircraft to prevent them from leaving. More than 100 protesters from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion entered an area where private jets are kept, as part of a day of demonstrations in and around the airport organised by environmental groups to mark the start of the COP27 talks in Egypt. Greenpeace says Schiphol is the largest source of CO2 emissions in the Netherlands, emitting 12 billion kilograms annually. Around 200 activists were arrested, and there is video of many escaping on bicycles, while the police try to catch them on foot (one activist received a head injury). The airport says the usual greenwashing stuff about becoming an emissions-free airport by 2030 etc (conveniently ignoring the flights) and being net zero by 2050. Blah blah. The Dutch transport minister, Mark Harbers, told parliament last month that his office could not control growing private jet traffic, and the government was considering whether to include the issue in its climate policy. Private jets emit greatly more CO2 per person than even on commercial planes.
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New survey shows most employees expect top executives to set corporate flying reduction targets
In the past, the full-fare airlines especially got a lot of their income from business travellers, who paid more than those in coach class, and were less price sensitive than individual passengers. But with growing awareness of the global climate permacrisis, and also the changes to working practices due to the Covid pandemic, there has been a reduction in business travel. And it may be a permanent change. A new survey of staff at a large number of businesses in the US, the UK, France, Germany and Spain found that at least 60% thought there should be less business flying, and that companies should have the appropriate travel policies. Due to Covid, a high proportion of business meetings can be done online, using Zoom, Teams etc, and many staff prefer this. There has been realisation that staff are more productive - and happier - if they do not have to waste time taking flights, especially for internal company meetings. The old days of business flying being a mark of status, gaining respect and kudos, may be gone.
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Pressure for aviation to have to include its non-CO2 climate impacts of its emissions
The lack of scientific clarity on the impact of its non-CO2 effects is a risk for commercial aviation, as it starts to take steps to address the problem of its carbon emissions and their climate impact. There is an aspirational target by the ICAO for the commercial air travel sector to reach "net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050". The exact meaning of net-zero is never clear, or how genuinely the emissions will be removed. But that ignores the other problem aviation has, which is the non-CO2 impacts of its emissions at high altitude. These are various gases, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) and also contrails. Studies indicate that these may double, or even triple, the climate warming impact of the plane's CO2 alone. The science is complicated, and the impacts are different at different times of day, in different weather conditions, in different places, and different durations of effects. However, it is convenient for the industry to continue hiding behind claims that the science is uncertain, as the reality would be a real handicap for their future plans. Tim Johnson, of the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) said though ICAO has refused to address non-CO2 impacts yet, this will become imperative between now and 2050 (at the very latest).
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“Possible” campaign legally challenging government’s “Jet Zero” strategy
The government has no proper aviation policy, with just unrealistic aspirations in its "Jet Zero Strategy" for the sector to be able to reduce its carbon emissions (and other climate impacts) using technologies that are either unproven or cannot be scaled up to the necessary extent. It will not try to limit demand for air travel. Now the climate campaign, Possible, has lodged a judicial review claim against the government because their “Jet Zero” strategy would fail to reduce aviation’s climate impacts in line with the UK’s emissions commitments and would encourage a huge increase in flights. The Climate Change Committee, in their most recent 2022 progress report to Parliament, stated that the government needs to “implement a policy to manage aviation demand as soon as possible”. Reducing the number of flights and passengers is the only reliable way to cut the climate impact of UK aviation. The grounds of Possible's legal claim include the strategy's failure to ensure that it would enable the UK’s carbon budgets to be met and, and this risks the UK failing to achieve net zero. Also that the government did not take the advice of the Climate Change Committee, and it did not consult on demand management. The campaign, GALBA, is also challenging the government over the strategy.
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Climate Change Committee recommendations to government on voluntary carbon markets and offsetting
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has a new report, called "Voluntary Carbon Markets and Offsetting". It looks at the evidence on the risks and opportunities presented by voluntary carbon markets and ‘offsetting’, in relation to progress to "Net Zero" in the UK and beyond. The role of voluntary carbon markets can only be limited. The CCC says that before growing voluntary carbon markets, Government must put in place stronger guidance, regulation and standards to ensure purchase of carbon credits is not used as a substitute for vital direct business emissions reduction - also to improve the integrity and transparency of carbon credits. In the absence of these measures, there is a real risk that voluntary carbon markets slow progress towards Net Zero or damage other priorities such as climate adaptation and biodiversity. The CCC recommends that business should use measures with high integrity, but focus on actually cutting their direct emissions. Voluntary carbon markets should result in lower overall CO2 emissions. They say carbon credit standards should better consider biodiversity and other ecosystem services, especially in biodiversity priority areas. Climate and nature should both be protected together.
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FoI shows BA’s parent airline, IAG, not keen on CO2 per passenger data being revealed
For people who decide to fly, it probably causes the emission of less CO2 if they can find an airline that emits less per passenger than others for that route. There was a study done by the ICCT, ranking the various airlines for their emissions on the same route. But it has now been revealed, by a Freedom of Information request by OpenDemocracy, that BA's owner, IAG, was keen for those figures to be kept from the public, as it shows them up in a bad light. IAG had argued against the proposal when responding to the Department for Transport’s 2021 consultation on its ‘Jet Zero strategy’. There are various reasons why an airline might emit more CO2 on a route, some of which are the age of the planes, and the amount of premium seats. Tim Johnson, director of the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), said consumers do not have enough information yet about the relative emissions of different airlines on a route. He urged the government to “require airlines to disclose and share CO2 emissions per passenger so they can be incorporated at the point of sale, whether that is on an airline's own website or through a comparison site or travel company”.
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Government accepts its “net zero” climate strategy is unlawful and must be redone by March 2023
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Secretary of State at BEIS, has dropped plans to appeal against a High Court ruling that found the government’s plan to reach "net zero" was unlawful. This means the government must now draw up a new net-zero strategy by March 2023, to reach its legally binding target for 2050. The net zero plan had always been too vague, with no details of how the target could be achieved. And it would not provide the necessary cuts by the 2030s. There were various suggestions (eg more nuclear power or more electric cars), but nothing set out the various emissions savings each measure might achieve, or measures to check progress. So in June a legal challenge were brought by ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth and the Good Law Project. The government's lawyers were unable to provide detail on how targets would be met. Then in July, Mr Justice Holgate ruled that the strategy was unlawful because it failed to meet two obligations in the Climate Change Act 2008 - monitoring of progress, and details of carbon savings. Aviation should be included in the strategy. A report by the Tory MP Chris Skidmore, due by the end of the year, is likely to influence a new strategy.