Aviation industry has missed all but one of 50 climate targets in the 21st century
A new report from climate charity Possible and Green Gumption, which assessed every public climate target which the international aviation industry set itself since 2000, has shown that all but one of over 50 separate climate targets has either been missed, abandoned or simply forgotten about.
The targets, which have been used by the aviation industry to successfully lobby policymakers to allow its ongoing growth, focused on CO2 efficiency or alternative fuels. The industry’s efficiency targets aligned closely with its cost reduction goals, but in all but one case (an unambitious target set by EasyJet for 2015) these targets were not reached. The industry’s targets for increasing use of alternative fuels were missed every single time, usually by orders of magnitude.
Overall, the industry’s attempts to regulate its emissions and set its own targets suffered from a combination of unclear definitions, shifting goalposts, inconsistent reporting, a complete lack of public accountability and, in some cases, being quietly dropped altogether.
A number of airlines have fallen back on the shaky promises of carbon offsetting to address their climate impacts. The report sets out that, while the industry formerly acknowledged that offsetting could not substitute for international action to reduce emissions, it is now almost the only international policy action being taken. Problems are rife with offsetting schemes, including faulty calculations of the amount of carbon they absorb.
The researchers assessed a broad range of actors in the international and UK aviation industry which covered airframe manufacturers, regulators, industry associations and other lobbyists, airlines and governments, and found that they promoted a veritable blizzard of goals and targets over the last two decades. The authors waded through 20 years of reports, working papers and organisations’ archived websites and pieced together a picture of the often convoluted evolution of over 50 individual climate targets.
The UK government’s Jet Zero strategy, which is due for publication in July, is expected to defy guidance from their statutory advisors the Climate Change Committee, who have made clear that deliberate policies to manage growth in demand for air travel will be needed to achieve the UK’s Net Zero goals. Instead, the Jet Zero strategy will heavily rely on the aviation industry being able to reduce its emissions while the number of flights continues to increase unconstrained. However, this analysis of the past twenty years shows that the industry appears to be incapable of meeting its own unambitious climate targets.
Possible is calling for the introduction of a progressive tax on flying in order to fairly reduce demand for flights, rather than relying on the industry to cut its emissions while catering to continual growth in passenger numbers. The frequent flyer levy, a policy which is both popular and fair, would manage demand by placing a progressively higher tax on people who fly more often, such as the 15% of people who take 70% of all UK flights. It is considered the most equitable and easily implementable method to reduce aviation demand.
Alethea Warrington, campaigner at climate charity Possible, said:
“It’s hardly a surprise that the aviation industry is failing to regulate itself and manage the harm it causes our climate. What is a surprise is both the scale of its failure to achieve even the small improvements it has set itself, and the ludicrousness of the government’s continuing insistence that the industry will be able to cut its emissions to net zero while allowing passenger numbers to continue to grow for the next three decades.”
Leo Murray, director of innovation at climate charity Possible, said:
“This forensic investigation shows just how implausible and credulous the government’s Jet Zero strategy is shaping up to be. How can we credibly expect this industry to over-deliver on emissions reduction when they’ve never met any of their previous climate targets? It’s clear that we need demand reduction via a frequent flyer levy, which would discourage the frequent flying by a small group of people which makes up the bulk of emissions from planes.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For the full report, Missed Targets: A brief history of aviation climate targets, please click HERE.
For media enquiries and further information please contact press@wearepossible.org or 07806431577.
Alethea Warrington, campaigner and Leo Murray, director of innovation, at climate charity Possible are available for comment. Please contact press@wearepossible.org for more information.
Organisations, companies and official bodies assessed include the Advisory Council for Aviation Research in Europe (ACARE), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Airlines for America (A4A), the UK-based Sustainable Aviation, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet, British Airways, NATS, the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG), the US government, the European Union, the Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany (AIREG) and the Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition.
Possible is a UK-based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. wearepossible.org.
Possible changed its name from 10:10 Climate Action on 10th October 2019.