Jet Zero Consultation.
Earlier this year; July 14th, 2021, the government launched its consultation into the future of sustainable aviation. The consultation comprises 2 documents of around 80 pages but introduces citations from the aviation sector alongside many evidential reports.
The aim of our strategy is for aviation to decarbonise in a way that preserves the benefits of air travel and delivers clean growth of the UK sector by maximising the opportunities that decarbonisation can bring. For the avoidance of doubt, we’re not talking about decarbonisation, we are talking about reduction and mitigation measures which is something altogether different.
Background information about international air travel.
The UK contributes the highest number of international air travellers: 126.2 million passengers each year, that’s 8.6% of the global total. The US and China are a distant second at 111.5 and 97 million passengers respectively. That figure is set to grow, assuming that plans at LBA and other UK airports are realised.
The Consultation.
The key documents are available here.
- jet-zero-consultation-a-consultation-on-our-strategy-for-net-zero-aviation.pdf
- jet-zero-consultation-evidence-and-analysis.pdf
and my personal response is found here.
The broad cut and thrust of policy is to reduce carbon emissions from aviation, however, that’s clearly not possible using the piecemeal approach which the reports suggest. What’s needed here is a far more radical approach to accelerate the removal of fossil fuel in favour of carbon-neutral fuels. The move to SFA’ (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) is a step in the right direction, however, it should not be a long-term goal as suggested throughout the consultation.
To be clear, I’m not advocating a move from aviation, rather a sustainable aviation industry, and a recognition that airlines and their passengers should foot the bill to clean up the sector and not the taxpayer.
