UK must make up for more air travel

Sectors of the UK economy will need to reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent by 2050 to compensate for increased air travel and technological constraints in the aviation industry.

This was the warning made by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in a letter sent to transport minister Lord Adonis and environment secretary Ed Miliband, ahead of the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen later this year.

The letter recommends that aviation emissions should be capped at 2005 levels by 2050 as part of a wider deal to reduce carbon emissions, either through an international agreement or using national and regional targets. It warns that, if nothing is done, global aviation emissions could account for 15-20 per cent of all CO₂ produced in the next 40 years.

While the CCC recognises the research and development (R&D) of greener aircraft, it believes that limitations to emerging technologies such as biofuels and lightweight airframes, combined with an expected threefold increase in passenger numbers, will set back environmental gains for airlines in the short and medium term.