News: Report calls for control of aviation expansion

Flights > News > # 1022 (21/10/2006)

Research conducted by Oxford University claims the Government’s ambitious emissions targets cannot be met without controlling the UK’s insatiable appetite for flying.

The ‘Predict and Decide’ report, which was commissioned by the UK Energy Research Centre, says that by 2050 carbon dioxide emissions from aviation could be four times higher than 1990 levels if the expansion in air travel continues at current rates.

Current Government policy supports an expansion in airports which will enable passenger movements to more than double – from 200 million in 2003 to 470 million in 2030. But many forecasts of the associated changes in emissions suggest that this will make official government targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 almost impossible to achieve.