Aviation in the North West: Emissions, Economics and Organisational Flying

Abstract:

<p>This document is a report on the study conducted by the Joule Centre titled 'Aviation in the North West: Emissions, Economics and Organisational Flying'.</p> <p>The international community recognises climate change as one of the greatest threats facing the social, environmental and economic well-being of human-kind. At a national level, the UK has demonstrated a clear international lead in responding to climate change by putting the need for and delivery of greenhouse gas emissions reductions on a statutory footing through the Climate Change Act 2008. This act introduced legally binding targets to achieve emission reductions in both the short and longer term. Furthermore, and unlike previous UK emission reduction policies, the Climate Change Act includes international aviation emissions explicitly in its 80% 2050 target and implicitly within the current budgets.</p> <p>For the UK as a whole, then, there is a clear need to balance the cost and overall economic impact of delivering additional reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for these 'other' sectors versus the costs and economic impact of curbing growth in emissions from aviation.</p> <p>The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, funded by the Joule Centre for Energy Research, has analysed the emissions, economics and policy implications of the region's aviation industry. The objectives of the Tyndall Centre study are: <bl> <li>To produce an approach for disaggregating the UK's aviation emissions to a regional scale</li> <li>To develop a set of low carbon pathways for the North West region that include aviation</li> <li>To review existing assessments of aviation's economic contribution and to estimate the specific contribution to the North West</li> <li>To analyse the practises behind flying with specific reference to the North West</li> <li>To use the results of the analyses to provide advice to the region as to how it can support socio-economic and environmental development in the region</li> </p></br> This report is divided into the following sections: <ol> <li>Introduction</li> <li>Aviation and the North West</li> <li>Estimating Regional Aviation Emissions</li> <li>Developing Low Carbon Pathways for the North West</li> <li>Economic impact of constraining aviation emissions growth</li> <li>Organisational consumption: Understanding Flying for Work</li> <li>Conclusions and Recommendations</li> </ol>

Author(s):

Wood, R., Bleda, M., Randles, S., Anderson, K., Bows, A. and Footitt, A.