'Jet Zero': Greenwashing the aviation industry

With the latest heatwave hitting a record 42 degrees at Heathrow airport, the climate crisis has landed in the UK on a melting runway. This same week, the government’s long awaited ‘Jet Zero’ strategy was published. It was supposed to be a road map to decarbonising the aviation industry, but in reality it gave them the green light to continue emitting for decades to come. 

This ’Jet Zero’ strategy is a package of low-carbon technological fantasies intended to balloon passenger numbers by an additional three-quarters compared to pre-pandemic levels while still somehow cutting emissions. But all of the proposed solutions are either physically impossible, require a ridiculous amount of natural resources, or wouldn’t reduce emissions. 

On top of this, the government’s own climate advisors warn that the promised electric and hydrogen planes or ‘sustainable’ aviation fuels won’t be commercially available by 2050. This means that none of these technologies are suitable for reaching our net-zero targets by 2050.
In reality, the only method of reducing aviation emissions is to fly less, and that means a plan to urgently tackle frequent flying. Fortunately tackling these emissions wouldn’t affect most of us. Access to flying is unequal -  only 15% of people take 70% of all the flights, and in a typical year nearly half of us don’t fly at all. We need a frequent flyer levy as a fair, effective and popular method to tackle aviation emissions. A frequent flyer levy should be coupled with improvements in greener ways of travelling, such as rail, to make these modes cheap and accessible. This combination can slash emissions while ensuring people can still enjoy travelling.