Aviation emissions set to be left out of key UK climate policy

7th October, 2008

International aviation should form part of the UK’s climate strategy, but need not be included in the 5-yearly budgets that will constrain UK emissions under the Climate Change Bill, says the Climate Change Committee in a letter to Government today.

The Committee was appointed to advise the Government on the effective implementation of the Climate Change Bill, including how to deal with emissions from international aviation and shipping. Its interim advice is that the UK 2050 target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions needs to increase from 60% to at least 80% and that this should include the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions. But because of a lack of international agreement over how emissions from these sources should be reported, they should be left out of the five-yearly budgets that will apply to other UK sectors and should instead be monitored and reported separately, says the Committee.

For AEF’s initial response, please see our press release.

The Committee’s full report is due in December.