UK Climate Advisers Recommend International Aviation Emissions Be Included in National Carbon Budgets
(GreenAir Online) The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the UK government on national carbon targets, has recommended international aviation and shipping emissions be included in carbon budgets and the UK’s 2050 overall target to reduce emissions 80 per cent below 1990 levels. International emissions from the two sectors had previously been excluded because of the complexities involved but the introduction of aviation into the EU ETS has now made it possible to calculate aviation’s UK share and provide a mechanism to cap its emissions growth. Current UK policy is to return aviation emissions to 2005 levels by 2050. The full inclusion of aviation emissions into the legally binding carbon budgets would put pressure on the UK aviation industry to deliver on its own reduction goals. However, the CCC said the UK should not set unilateral emissions targets but should work within longer-term global or EU agreements.
…“People in the UK fly more than anyone else in the world, so it is right that the UK takes a leading role in tackling aviation emissions growth,” it said. “The Committee’s recommendations would give aviation considerable leeway compared with other sectors but would ensure that aviation in future participates transparently in the UK’s efforts to bring our economy within sustainable limits.” READ MORE
