'Divided consumer attitudes' to climate change mirrored by government

Posted by jossc — 18 January 2008 at 5:45pm - Comments

Earlier this week the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) released a report identifying things the public should be doing to limit climate change. Third on the list is to "avoid unnecessary short-haul flights". Apparently we find this hard to do because of "divided consumer attitudes" - ie, we want to have our cake and eat it.

Perhaps before they start lecturing us on how to behave, though, they might consider making a start slightly closer to home. Round the corner at the Department for Transport (DfT) might be a good place to start, since their colleagues are busy making it easier for people to fly short-haul, by trying to build a third, short-haul runway at Heathrow.

If the DfT were to read the report they'd discover that Defra's attitude is the complete opposite of their own. For example, "government needs to lead by example, and to be more visible on climate change," as well as to "remove the most unsustainable products and services from the market place". So it's not just the poor old consumers who are suffering from 'divided attitudes'. Hurrah, the government is on our wavelength, after all.

Whether the mess of contradictions can be put down to cock-up or conspiracy I really don't know, but for an administration that came to power promising "joined-up" government it certainly doesn't look good. Still they've only had just over a decade at it, and Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say...

The real focus of this debate is not whether you take one two week holiday each year and travel by plane to get there, but whether you are also taking five or six long week-ends a year to different European destinations - if you are, chances are it's because the flights cost so little that you can't resist the temptation.

The proposed new runway at Heathrow will permit around 900 extra flights a day (a 70% growth in traffic) - well over half of this will be short-haul low cost. Air travel represents a fairly small percentage of our CO2 emissions at present (13 per cent of the UK's climate impact acording to the government), but is undergoing dramatic growth. If unchecked, it will account for 90% of our CO2 emissions by 2050, meaning that any other energy conservation measures we take (like insulating our houses) would be rendered useless.

The government is trying to tell us that it is sincere about tackling climate change, but their refusal to take any action to limit aviation expansion (VAT and fuel tax on kerosene, for example) shows that they are not serious.

Cheap flights are a recent innovation made possible by collusion between the aviation industry and the government. They are NOT a basic human right, they are a luxury. To put it into context, the only other things which are VAT-exempt are
food and children's clothing. If we had to start paying the true cost of each flight, we'd be doing a lot less of it, I reckon.

The real focus of this debate is not whether you take one two week holiday each year and travel by plane to get there, but whether you are also taking five or six long week-ends a year to different European destinations - if you are, chances are it's because the flights cost so little that you can't resist the temptation. The proposed new runway at Heathrow will permit around 900 extra flights a day (a 70% growth in traffic) - well over half of this will be short-haul low cost. Air travel represents a fairly small percentage of our CO2 emissions at present (13 per cent of the UK's climate impact acording to the government), but is undergoing dramatic growth. If unchecked, it will account for 90% of our CO2 emissions by 2050, meaning that any other energy conservation measures we take (like insulating our houses) would be rendered useless. The government is trying to tell us that it is sincere about tackling climate change, but their refusal to take any action to limit aviation expansion (VAT and fuel tax on kerosene, for example) shows that they are not serious. Cheap flights are a recent innovation made possible by collusion between the aviation industry and the government. They are NOT a basic human right, they are a luxury. To put it into context, the only other things which are VAT-exempt are food and children's clothing. If we had to start paying the true cost of each flight, we'd be doing a lot less of it, I reckon.

About Joss

Bass player and backing vox in the four piece beat combo that is the UK Greenpeace Web Experience. In my 6 years here I've worked on almost every campaign and been fascinated by them all to varying degrees. Just now I'm working on Peace and Oceans - which means getting rid of our Trident nuclear weapons system and creating large marine reserves so that marine life can get some protection from overfishing.

Follow Greenpeace UK