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An Oxford University report warns that the government will not be able to meet its target of a 60% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 without slowing demand for air travel. 

One of its suggestions is to double Air Passenger Duty - taxation through increased passenger duty could be easier and quicker than including aviation within the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, as the Department of Transport is suggesting. Without change, aircraft emissions are growing on course to account for about a quarter of the national total of emissions by 2050, up from around 5.5%. It is clearly absurd that Aviation can once again find itself uncounted and untaxed, although we at Sus Travel have our doubts about the usefulness of the ETS.

Dr Sally Cairns said on the BBC: "Raising Air Passenger Duty would help to counter reductions in fares, which are estimated to have been responsible for at least 40% of recent aviation growth." 

The report - Predict and Survive: Aviation, Climate Change and Policy - says Britain is becoming "air dependent" and that government policies on the issue are contradictory.

Unsurprisingly, Easyjet doesn’t see it that way. A statement in response to widespread reporting of the above report said:

"Calling for greater taxation on air travel is sloppy thinking and risks damaging the European economy as a whole (3.1 million jobs and €221bn of GDP in the EU-15 are dependent upon aviation, accounting for 8% of Europe's GDP). Aviation is also a key driver for integration with the new Member States and growth under the EU's Lisbon Agenda.”  

"Taxation is a blunt instrument that will only put more money into the pockets of governments, whilst discriminating against the poorest in society, who until recently were priced out of the sky. Crucially, and most importantly, it does not benefit the environment."

Though the “discriminates against the poor” argument is an old one and something of a Red Herring, their final point is a good one. Like Carbon Offset tree-planting, paying more doesn’t do anything about the pollution – can we be certain that cost will slow demand sufficiently? Can we trust Governments to do anything useful with the money?

Elsewhere, the travel industry seems slowly to be facing up to a need to cut capacity, and prepare itself for an environment tax, if the tea-leaf readers in the Industry chat columns are to be believed. Unfortunately that can’t come too soon.