Emissions targets hit by Scottish air travel boom
25.05.08
Rocketing demand for air travel could wreck the Scottish government's attempts to meet climate change eimmissions cuts, according to a new study. If the number of passengers flying from Scottish airports increases as predicted, emissions from planes could end up swamping those from all other sources - and sabotage ministers' plans to reduce climate pollution 80% by 2050 - the reports claims.
Government projections suggest a massive increase in air traffic over the next 50 years. The World Development Movement (WDM), which campaigns against poverty in developing countries, has released a report predicting what this means for passenger numbers in Scotland.
At the moment, some 25 million people use Scotland's 15 airports every year. The vast majority travel via the country's four biggest airports: Edinburgh Airport (9 million), Glasgow (8.8 million), Aberdeen (3.4 million) and Prestwick (2.4 million). However, the number of air passengers is projected to increase to 30 million by 2010, 50 million by 2030 and 120 million by 2050.
WDM says that this would lead to an increase in carbon dioxide pollution from 10 million to 16 million tonnes. The total would top Scotland's projected climate pollution from all other industries, vehicles and agriculture, if the government meets its 80% target and cuts emissions down to 13.5 million tonnes in 2050.
The report has reinforced climate campaigners' calls for aviation to be fully included in the Scottish climate change bill. If it is not, they say, the bill could be ‘completely ineffective’. Liz Murray, WDM's head of campaigns in Scotland, said: ‘It is absolutely vital that the Scottish government includes emissions from aviation in the Scottish climate change bill from the outset.'
‘By excluding aviation, it risks completely cancelling out action taken to reduce emissions in all other sectors of Scottish society and making the bill completely ineffective. Scotland owes it to those in the poorest countries, who are already feeling the devastating effects of climate change, to make this bill work.’
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