Aviation Key in Climate Change Battle - UK Report
Date: 11-Nov-04
Country: UK
The House of Lords' European Union sub-committee on the environment said aviation's impact on the environment could be "immense" and should be rapidly included in the EU's emissions trading scheme, which is about to begin.
Britain will head the G8 group of leading nations in 2005. The prime minister has pledged to make tackling climate change a priority, despite reluctance on the part of President Bush.
"It is extraordinary that on the one hand the government is concerned with climate change and on the other hand it's encouraging a rapid increase in air travel," committee chairman Lord Renton said.
The Lords may be knocking at an open door.
In a speech on climate change in September, Blair said that by 2030, aircraft emissions could be responsible for 1/4 of Britain's total contribution to global warning.
He said Britain would use its presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2005 to press for aviation to be brought into the EU's emissions trading scheme.
The scheme, a key part of the bloc's efforts to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, will create the world's first international market in carbon emissions when it begins in January.
Businesses are given permits to produce carbon dioxide after receiving allocations under national plans. Companies which exceed their limits have to buy quotas from firms which undershoot their targets.
The committee echoed Blair's ambition to include aviation.
Renton said jet engines not only emitted greenhouse gases by burning kerosene but also produced other pollutants and high-altitude clouds known as "radiative forcing."
"Their exact effect is uncertain," he said. "This is alarming when air travel is predicted to grow rapidly throughout the EU and the rest of the world."
