Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring airlines to publish emission output estimates to (a) transparency and (b) aircraft efficiency.

In December 2018 the Government published a green paper on its new aviation strategy, ‘Aviation 2050 – The future of UK aviation’. This included proposals for tackling aviation’s carbon emissions, taking into account the UK’s domestic and international obligations.

One of the potential carbon abatement measures consulted on in the green paper is to ask airports to publish league tables of the environmental efficiency of airport and airline operations.

The public consultation on the green paper closed on 20 June 2019, and the department will now consider the responses and assess the merits of the potential carbon abatement measures to determine which will be taken forward. The final Aviation 2050 strategy will present a clear approach to carbon abatement and ensure that aviation contributes its fair share to action on climate change. It is due to be published later this year.

Aggregate airline emissions are already published at a European level through the EU Emission Trading System (ETS). Reporting coverage will be expanded under the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) which includes all airline emissions on international routes. The first emissions data for CORSIA will be available during 2020.