Figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show that while the UK's overall carbon emission have more or less stabilised, emissions from international aviation are spiralling out of control - they grew by a staggering 12% in 2004.
Aircraft emitted 33.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
in 2004, twice as much as in 1992, and now account for around 6.5% of
all the UK's emissions. This does not take into account the climate
damage that aircraft cause in other ways, which is thought to multiply
the effect by between two and four times.
Last year research by the Tyndall Centre suggested that aircraft would
account for the UK's entire sustainable carbon emissions in the next
30-40 years. These estimates now look conservative - if growth
continues at the sort of rate seen in 2003-4, we will reach the point
in the next 15-20 years when the entire UK economy will have to have
zero emissions to make room for aviation, if we want to avoid the most
serious consequences of climate change.
Courtesy Aviation Environment Federation
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