Zack Polanski AM today pushed the Mayor to confirm his opposition to Gatwick expansion and called on him to support a frequent flyer levy to reduce excessive emissions from flights.
After years of supporting the expansion of Gatwick and writing to the Prime Minister in 2016, the Mayor recently said: “I fail to see how any airport expansion can be justified, being incompatible with achieving the UK’s net zero target”. [1][2]
When asked about a frequent flyer levy to help bring emissions down and reach Government targets, the Mayor wanted to ‘reassure Londoners that we often do get on’ when it comes to these ideas and said he is ‘more than happy’ to discuss them. [3]
Green Party London Assembly Member Zack Polanski said:
The Government’s plan to cut emissions from flights isn’t working – airlines are out of control, failing to meet even basic climate targets and marking their own homework.
“It is time to stop all airport expansion – we cannot expect the planet to be safe with even just the levels of flights we saw before the pandemic, let alone an increase.
“The Mayor has heard and acted upon green ideas on drugs and smart, fair, road user charging and now in opposing Gatwick expansion.
We’ve come a long way since the Mayor said no to a frequent flyer levy in 2016. It is clearly the sensible next step to bring emissions down and we only have a few years to make a difference on the climate.
Notes to editors
[1] London mayor in last-ditch plea for Gatwick expansion, October 2016: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37567055
[2] Answer for Gatwick airport expansion (1) March 2022: https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2022/0525
[3] Mayor's Question Time, Thursday 19 May 2022,: https://webcasts.london.gov.uk/Assembly/Event/Index/a6b63264-c9a5-4122-…;
The Mayor of London’s London Net Zero 2030: An Updated Pathway says there should only be “Limited recovery of air travel demand by 2030 following COVID-19 levels (reaching 50% of 2018 levels)” and “Aviation growth beyond 2030 limited to 85% of 2018 levels by 2050” and suggests the Mayor may adopt policies and actions including “Review inclusion and support for aviation in recovery and growth with the aim of minimising growth beyond 2020 (COVID) levels” and “Lobby for limits to further expansion of airports, e.g. through a review of the Airports National Policy Statement”
https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/climate-change/zero-ca…
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) Sixth Carbon Budget [5] 2021 progress report to Parliament stated that “some moderation of demand growth is likely to be required to meet the legislated emissions targets, as pre-pandemic trends in demand growth exceed what we expect can be accommodated in a Net Zero world”.
https://www.theccc.org.uk/2021/04/20/sixth-carbon-budget-ccc-lauds-hist…
Zack’s questioning follows reports from Possible and the Aviation Environmental Federation highlighting gaps in Government plans to reduce carbon emissions from aviation. [3,4]
https://www.aef.org.uk/2022/05/16/new-report-finds-governments-jet-zero…;
https://www.wearepossible.org/latest-news/for-20-years-the-aviation-has…
Gatwick have renewed their push for routine use of their second runway during the pandemic. https://www.gatwickairport.com/business-community/future-plans/
A 2021 report from the New Economics Foundation laid out why demand for aviation must be capped and how a frequent flyer levy could do this in a fair way. https://neweconomics.org/2021/07/a-frequent-flyer-levy