British public refuse to fly less to reduce their carbon footprint

Adam Vaughan
The Guardian, Monday 5 October 2009
The extent of the public's refusal to fly less often has been revealed by research that suggests attempts to slash greenhouse gas emissions from aviation will struggle to get off the ground.
Fewer than one in five people are trying to reduce the number of flights they take for environmental reasons, warns the study from Loughborough University. The findings come after the aviation industry vowed to halve emissions by 2050 and the government's climate advisers called for a deal at UN climate talks in Copenhagen to cap emissions from flying.
The Propensity to Fly study also reveals the vast majority of the British public would rather cut energy use at home than go without flying for a year. While 88% of participants said they were willing or very willing to "reduce how much energy I use in my home throughout the year" only 26% said the same when asked if they would "not fly in the next 12 months".
Research from Exeter University last year said "green living" idealists who recycle and save energy at home are some of the worst offenders.
Dr Tim Ryley, who led the Loughborough research, said: "While some people are willing to fly less and others are willing to pay more to fly to offset emissions, they remain the minority. It is cost and not environmental consequences that deter people from flying more often."
Asked what increase in air fares would deter them from flying short-haul, nearly four in five (79%) said a £50 rise would make them fly less often. With just a £10 increase in short-haul fares to destinations such as Paris and Rome, only 21% would probably take fewer flights.
Air passenger duty, the government's tax on air fares, is changing to take account of distance later this year, with the duty on short-haul flights rising from £10 to £11 in November and £12 in 2010. The increase in long-haul trips will be higher, with economy class to the US rising from £40 to £60 in 2010 and flights of more than 6,000 miles – such as London to Sydney – jumping from £55 to £85 next year.
The research by Loughborough suggests the government's tax rises, which transport secretary Andrew Adonis says will cover the cost of the UK's contribution to global warming, will only deter a small minority of British passengers. From 2012 airlines will have to join the European emissions trading scheme (ETS) - designed to reduce carbon emissions - which the EC predicts will see short-haul fares rise by an additional €6 (£5.50) and €9 (£8.26).
While most people said they were unwilling to pay more for their flight to offset the environmental cost, an increasing number - 32% in 2009 compared to 19% in 2007 - of participants agreed that passengers should pay more to account for aviation's environmental impact. The study included four surveys between 2007 and 2009, with sample sizes of between 300 and 615 people.
Joss Garman, a former Plane Stupid activist and now a campaigner for Greenpeace, said the results reflected a lack of alternatives to flying: "Ultimately it isn't surprising people want to cling on to their flights when they're denied the choice of affordable, low-carbon alternatives." Whilst research like this does underline how divorced the public, like the political, conversation has become from the science, equally there's polling showing the majority oppose a third runway at Heathrow."
Although the recession has dented air travel numbers, which peaked at 239 million passengers through UK airports in 2007 but dropped to 234.2m in 2008, Ryley said growth was expected to return as the economy recovered and Adonis forecasts a doubling to about 500m passengers a year in 2030.
In August, the government announced a plan for a new high-speed rail network to reduce short-haul flights, just a month after the secretary for energy and climate change, Ed Miliband, defended mass air travel on the grounds that deep emissions cuts would be made in other sectors to meet UK carbon targets. "Where I disagree with other people on aviation is if you did 80% cuts across the board, as some people have called for on aviation, you would go back to 1974 levels of flying. I don't want to have a situation where only rich people can afford to fly," Miliband told the Guardian.
Last month the government's committee on climate change warned that if growth in flights was left unchecked, emissions from global aviation could account for 15% to 20% of all CO2 produced in 2050. While total greenhouse gas emissions from the EU fell by 3% between 1990 and 2002, emissions from international aviation increased by nearly 70%.