Carbon emissions from flying

According to a report in the Guardian, an elite minority of frequent flyers cause most of the climate damage resulting from aviation’s emissions. In England, just 10% of the population took more than half of all international flights in 2018. Globally, the frequent-flying 'super emitters' only account for 1% of the world’s population yet caused half of aviation’s carbon emissions in the same year. Given that 90% of the world’s population did not fly at all in 2018, its clear that this tiny 1% minority are causing a disproportionate amount of carbon emissions. Since the aviation industry receives an annual subsidy through an exemption from tax on fuel, poorer people are effectively paying the price for the lavish lifestyles of the elite minority.

This has understandably angered climate campaigners, many of whom are calling for a frequent flyers tax, whereby the first flight in a year would incur no tax so that annual family holidays are unaffected. However, a levy would then be applied to each additional flight. This would mean that those responsible for most of the aviation emissions incur most of the cost, which most people would agree is a reasonable outcome.