Duty on long-haul flights and funding for wind energy do not satisfy green campaigners

Terry Macalister

The Guardian, Tuesday November 25 2008

Airline passenger duty (APD) on flights to destinations such as Thailand, South Africa and the Seychelles will increase by 25% from next year and by will rise by half from that in 2010.
Alistair Darling said the move would benefit the environment, but his decision to have a more draconian flight tax and to give only a small boost to a low-carbon economy angered the green movement.
The APD is presently levied at £10 on an economy-class flight to European destinations and £40 for long-haul flights.
The chancellor has introduced four new bands with a starting level of £11 on tickets for destinations within 2,000 miles of London; £45 for flights of up to 4,000 miles; £50 for 4,000-6,000 miles and £55 for flights over 6,000. The changes do not come into effect until next November.
The duty will rise again the following year so by 2010-11, the tax on the lowest band will be £12; band B will be £60; a band C flight to Bangkok or Johannesburg will be £75, and the top band will be £85.
"I have decided to reform APD into a four-band system ensuring that those who travel further and have a larger environmental impact meet that cost," Darling explained.
His decision to drop a previously proposed airline duty worried airlines but delighted the Airport Operators Association, which said it had "won the battle". The World Development Movement argued that the end of a possible airline duty was "bad news for the UK taxpayer, the environment and the world's poor".
The government did give a significant boost to the wind power industry by extending the Renewables Obligation (RO) of financial support until 2037.
Darling also brought forward what he said was more than £500m worth of spending to be used on insulating homes and other energy-efficiency initiatives.
But there was no wider green New Deal, whereby large amounts of public money would be poured into creating a low-carbon future, as had been called for by environmentalists.
The chancellor said the RO, which legally requires electricity suppliers in Britain to source a growing percentage of their power from green sources, would run for a further 10 years to 2037. This would ensure "investors can plan with confidence for the future", he said.
The British Wind Energy Association said it was "really encouraging" and would stimulate those companies looking at plans to build expensive projects far out in the North Sea. "Under the old regime, many companies were worried that the current RO was going to run out half way through their schemes," said a spokesman.
Darling also said that £535m of capital spending to promote government environmental objectives would be brought forward to sustain 350,000 jobs in the low-carbon sector. About £100m of new money would be spent on helping 60,000 low-income homes cut their energy bills through insulation.
Despite these measures, John Sauven, Greenpeace executive director, said he was disappointed. "This was an historic opportunity to invest billions in a low-carbon, high-technology future but the chancellor blew it. We can only hope that by the time he formulates the budget itself, he will have grasped the potential of hi-tech climate solutions to get us out of this recession.
"Once again the aviation industry has been given a free pass at a time when its contribution to climate change is rising."
The government also highlighted expected changes to the North Sea tax regime that are likely to please the oil and gas industry, which feared a windfall tax.