Government must hold aviation industry accountable for emissions reductions

3 Apr, 2024

โš ๏ธ ๐—˜๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—”๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฒ (๐—˜๐—”๐—–) ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—จ๐—ž ๐—š๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€

โœˆ The UK Governmentโ€™s plans for delivering net zero aviation are set out in the Jet Zero Strategy, published in 2022, which expects technological measures, like increasing fuel efficiency (improving by 2% each year) and the adoption of sustainable aviation fuels, to reduce emissions significantly each year.

๐Ÿ› It claims it will keep these assumptions under review and consider whether further action is needed in future to meet net zero targets.

๐Ÿ“‰ For example, it does not rule out measures designed to reduce demand for flights, like a frequent flyer levy, if a future review suggests that new fuels and improved technology alone are not sufficiently reducing emissions.

๐Ÿ“— In its report the EAC had warned Ministers that demand management measures might need to be considered if reviews of the strategy show that it is not on track to deliver the emissions reductions expected.

๐Ÿ—ฃ Committee members called for the first review of the Jet Zero Strategy to be brought forward from 2027 to 2025 to determine whether the sector remains on track.

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ผ EAC member, Jerome Mayhew MP, said: โ€œ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ด. ๐˜๐˜ง ๐˜ข ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜‘๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ก๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜บ โ€“ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Š๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ 2025 โ€“ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ-๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ป๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด.โ€

๐Ÿ‘‰ Announcement: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/environmental-audit-committee/news/200691/committee-urges-government-to-hold-aviation-industry-accountable-for-emissions-reductions

๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€โœˆ๏ธ The EAC’s positions are similar to that of Safe Landing, as we note that:

  • The assumptions used in the Jet Zero models for aircraft efficiency improvements, alternative fuels, and negative emissions scale-up are overly optimistic and lack sufficient policy measures to accelerate progress.
  • The scenarios for air traffic growth (more than 70% increase by 2050) far exceed the “balanced pathway” modelling from the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC), using more realistic assumptions, that air traffic growth should be limited to 25%.
  • The CCC stated in their 2023 Progress Report to Parliament that โ€œNo airport expansions should proceed until a UK-wide capacity management framework is in place to assess annually and, if required, control sector CO2 emissions and non-CO2 effects.โ€
  • There was a failure to model scenarios with demand management measures (airport / air traffic capacity or emissions controls) applied.
  • The emissions pricing modelled was far too low, with no more realistic higher pricing scenarios.

Read our full responses to the UK Jet Zero consultation here: https://safe-landing.org/uk-jet-zero

Continue reading