Air travellers asked to pay CO2 levy

Air travellers asked to pay CO2 levy

Airline passengers should be encouraged to make voluntary payments to offset the damage caused by carbon dioxide emissions from their flights, the government suggested yesterday.

The proposal emerged in published exchanges between the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Commons environmental audit committee, over the growing impact of aviation on climate change.

There are already schemes in this country, such as Future Forests, which allow travellers to calculate the CO2 produced by planes they have flown in and donate money, or buy products, which support tree-planting to soak up the resulting emissions.

In its submission, the government backed the idea of voluntary payments. "Such a scheme has been endorsed by the German government recently and the concept may merit further investigations in the UK," the department said.

Friends of the Earth yesterday welcomed the proposal but warned that more urgent action was needed.

"Air passenger tax, which has been falling in real terms, should be increased," said Richard Dyer, FoE aviation campaigner.

Earlier this year the DfT revealed that air traffic projections show that by the year 2050 a third of all gases produced in the UK affecting world climate will be those released by the aviation industry.

MPs on the committee have become increasingly exasperated by the position taken by the department and what they see as its failure to curb carbon emissions at a time when more and more people are flying around the globe.

"Only last week the prime minister emphasised again that climate change was the biggest challenge we face," said Peter Ainsworth, the chairman of the MPs' committee, "and he has made this a key priority for the UK presidency of the G8 and EU next year."

He added: "There is clearly a glaring inconsistency in the DfT promoting so large a growth in carbon emissions from aviation at a time when we need to make huge cuts to minimise the worst impacts of global warming. We need a much more informed public debate."

Much of the report was taken up with disputes over passenger forecasts.

"One-fifth of all international air passengers in the world are on flights to or from a UK airport," the transport department told the committee. "Drastic measures to bring down the UK figure would cause significant damage to the UK's position in the global economy."