The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Planes and carbon counting

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 30, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Planes and carbon counting

Lucy Siegle

Thanks to low-cost airlines, and super-size jets, the world has got smaller. Unfortunately, it's also got hotter.

IF THERE was a top ten list featuring the `perks' of 21st-century living, the no-frills-low-cost flight would be a strong contender for the top spot. You can `get away from it all' from, say, London to southern Spain for less than the cost of a new pair of flip-flops. No wonder we're besotted: in 1993, 51 million of us took flights; by 2003 this had risen to 97 million.

Even if you might not be a plane spotter, the chances are that today you'll still hear a plane — after all, one million people in the United Kingdom are adversely affected by aviation noise and air pollution. So that's one drawback. Here comes another. Aviation is the U.K.'s fastest-growing source of CO2 emissions — the principal greenhouse gas, responsible for three to five per cent of our CO2 emissions. By 2010, experts warn, aviation emissions will wipe out any progress made on CO2 reduction through Kyoto. But despite this, aviation fuel is still exempt from fuel duty, meaning that the airline industry pays no penalties for its contribution to global warming or atmospheric pollution.

Then there's the brand-new hulking 555-seat Airbus A380, which `enters service' in March 2006. The world's most ambitious civil aircraft yet, it is apparently more fuel efficient than current models. But according to experts, this still won't be enough to balance the rise in emissions caused by increasing passenger numbers.

So if we can't pin all our hopes on a big airbus, it could be time to join the growing number of flight-limiters who restrict themselves to the minimum-possible number of flights and ration their own carbon allowance. In his book How We Can Save the Planet (Penguin), transport expert Mayer Hillman suggests keeping a carbon diary. Flying from Paris to New York will take up a quarter of your annual carbon quota.

Alternatively, business flights can be substituted with conference calls; try a home country holiday; or search www.seat61.com for global train and boat transport links. You can even take a stand without travelling anywhere. Buying local, seasonal produce will cut down your air miles for starters, given that everything from runner beans to roses are routinely air-freighted to supermarkets. Or check www.air portwatch.org to keep an eye on airport expansion.

Thanks to bands such as Coldplay, carbon offsetting has become a fashionable way of atoning for your flights. But this is a bit like eating your carbon cake and having it, as you'd arguably need a whole country full of trees to get anywhere near an effective form of carbon sequestering. In that case, it's only marginally better than those frequent flyers who claim their flights are ecologically sound because they have used a ticket-less airline and saved paper, just before they board their no-frills flight to cloud cuckoo land. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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