Aviation threatens UK climate change obligations

8th June, 2005

New research, carried out by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, was launched at the House of Commons on 8 June 2005. 18 MPs attended, an excellent turnout for the launch of a scientific report. It shows that at least some politicians realise this issue is important and will not go away.

The research shows that unless the Government takes action to reduce the growth in aviation emissions, the industry’s emissions will wipe out all the savings that other sectors of the economy could make.

Tyndall, the UK’s leading independent climate change research body, concludes that if aviation growth continues, it could take up the entire emissions budget for all sectors of the EU economy by 2040 and all sectors of the UK economy by 2037, if we are to keep within safe limits.

This would mean that schools, hospitals, commerce, houses and industry would not be able to release any emissions if the UK and the EU are to stay within environmental limits. Friends of the Earth. who sponsored the research, described such a scenario as “absurd, unjust and unachievable“.