Committee on Climate Change report – “Scope of carbon budgets – statutory advice on inclusion of international aviation and shipping”

Article Type: News from the net From: International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Volume 4, Issue 4

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has published a report stating that there is no longer any reason to exclude international aviation and shipping emissions from UK carbon budgets. Emissions from international aviation and shipping were initially left out of carbon budgets and the 2050 target when the Climate Change Act was passed in 2008. Government carbon budgets have always assumed an 80 percent reduction in emissions across all sectors by 2050(including aviation and shipping) but the authors note that:

The current approach (i.e. an assumption that the 80% reduction includes international aviation and shipping) lacks legal underpinning and should be formalised in order to remove current uncertainties around the future interpretation of the 2050 target.

The government is required to make a proposal to Parliament by the end of 2012 on whether or not to include these emissions. Details can be seen at: http://hmccc.s3.amazonaws.com/IA&S/CCC_IAS_Core_ScopeOfBudgets_April2012.pdf