Opinion - News Analysis

The high price of low-cost air travel

John Vidal

Emissions from aircraft are nearly four times as dangerous as those at ground level.

THE BRITISH Government's aggressive language about the aviation industry's failure to get to grips with cutting pollution reflects growing frustration that its emissions are undermining Britain's strategy on climate change. Cheap flights, globalisation, and the mounting cost of train travel have made aviation by far the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide in the U.K.

Emissions from U.K. aviation have increased by nearly 70 per cent since 1990 and rose by 11 per cent in 2004 alone. While they amount to less than 3 per cent of national carbon emissions, expected growth will nearly double this within 25 years. In addition, aviation is the most highly polluting mode of transportation on earth and its low share of total emissions hides the fact that the complex chemical reactions that take place when aviation fuel is burned at high altitude make emissions from aeroplanes nearly four times as damaging as those at ground level.

The U.K. Government is in a double bind though. While it is committed to cutting overall carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent between 1990 and 2050, its own research states that this will be impossible if aviation is allowed to carry on expanding. The U.K. Department for Transport has also been found to have been underestimating U.K. aviation emissions by not including non-scheduled flights in its estimates and by maintaining that half of all people flying from the U.K. live abroad, when the real figure is nearer 30 per cent.

While the Government insists that aviation should pay for its environmental costs, it also knows that there is no prospect of any major technological breakthrough that will significantly reduce aircraft emissions. Gradual improvements to fuel and engine efficiency are the best that can be hoped for.

The aviation industry says that it is up to the government to ensure that domestic policy initiatives encourage greater investment in cleaner technology. In theory, the EU's carbon trading scheme may allow aviation giants to buy allocations of emissions from poorer nations. But as the Stern report on the economics of climate change recently made clear, the international nature of aviation also makes the choice of carbon pricing instrument complex. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

(John Vidal is the environment editor of The Guardian.)

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