AEF forms part of NGO coalition at the European Court of Justice, plus work on a range of UK policy issues

14th July, 2011

In the last two weeks, with the environmental NGOs having intervened in the US airlines legal challenge to their inclusion in the EU emissions trading scheme, the hearing before the European Court of Justice generated a lot of press attention.

At AEF we’ve also been working on a number of UK policy issues. Our Director, Tim, presented at a DfT ‘External Advisory Group’ meeting on a proposed joint research project on aircraft noise at Heathrow between AEF, airport operator BAA and community campaign group HACAN, and shared his perspectives on an enhanced environmental role for the CAA at a workshop organised by the Authority.

Other UK-focussed work has included a meeting with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, which is interested in how, in a policy environment where constraints on airport expansion are now in place, it may be possible to better “sweat the assets” in UK aviation. And we have been purusing our Freedom of Information request for disclosure of the changes made to the DfT risk model for Public Safety Zones since it was first made public in 1996.

We also attended the launch of the Committee on Climate Change’s Third Progress Report to Parliament on meeting the UK’s carbon budgets. Aviation emissions are not currently formally included in the budgets but the Government is required to take account of them under the Climate Change Act 2008.  The Government will be responding this month to the Committee’s report on how aviation can meet the sector-specific target set in 2009, and in anticipation of this, AEF and AirportWatch have put out a press release on a new AirportWatch report on aviation and climate policy in the UK.

Finally, we appeared on BBC’s London Tonight TV broadcast to present our views on proposed changes to Air Passenger Duty.