Climate groups taking government to court over “dangerous” aviation strategy

That’s right, along with Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA), we are taking the government to court. In October 2022, with lawyers at Leigh Day, we filed for a judicial review of the “Jet Zero” strategy (its plan for aviation emissions), which the Department for Transport released in July 2022.

Our legal challenges will now proceed to a joint hearing. This is another hugely important milestone in climate change litigation in the UK.

What is wrong with the “Jet Zero” Strategy proposed?

Since the strategy was published, a range of environmental groups have expressed concern that it is utterly inadequate to hold the industry to account on reducing emissions in line with the UK’s legally binding climate commitments. In fact, it would fail to reduce aviation’s climate impacts, encourage a huge increase in flights, and pave the way for airport expansion.

The Royal Society and Imperial College London recently analysed all the measures that the government proposes in Jet Zero to cut aviation emissions. They were all judged to be inadequate. It will be argued that the failure to consider this risk to the delivery of its plans renders its net zero aviation strategy unlawful.

The key grounds on which the challenge will be heard in the High Court are:

  • The government failed to lay a report before Parliament setting out how the strategy would enable carbon budgets to be met.

  • The government failed to consult in a lawful manner by having a “closed mind” before the consultation commenced on whether demand management measures were required.

Flights are highly polluting and very difficult to decarbonise. Rather than take sensible steps to tackle this problem by limiting frequent flying, the government’s dangerous strategy encourages huge growth in flights. It relies too heavily on “pie in the sky technologies” that are completely unproven. To meet their own climate targets, demand management and reducing the overall number of flights are essential.

What are the solutions?

However, there is an alternative that would lower aviation emissions without stopping ordinary people from holidaying.

The frequent flyer levy, a policy which is both popular and fair, would manage demand by placing a progressively higher tax on the small group of people who fly frequently, with just 15% of people taking 70% of all UK flights.

The climate crisis is here now. The government has refused to listen to their own advisors on climate, who have repeatedly warned that we need to limit flights. We can’t allow the government to continue to give airports and airlines a free ticket to keep cashing in as our world burns. And when we see the government in court, we’ll make that clear

In their most recent report this week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a grave warning that the world must “massively fast-track climate efforts” in order to stand a chance of limiting warming to 1.5C. Demand management policies, which the government refused to include in the Jet Zero Strategy, have been noted by the IPCC as a vital part of bringing down emissions.

The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has also consistently stated that the government needs to “implement a policy to manage aviation demand as soon as possible” to ensure there are adequate mechanisms in place “in the likely event” that low emission technologies are not commercially available in time to sufficiently reduce emissions from flights.

Until there is a credible pathway to decarbonizing the aviation sector, it is a massive gamble for the government to allow the unchecked growth of the sector without any attempt at managing demand.

And that’s why we’ll see the Government in court.

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aviationLucia Skelton