Rich should fly less to protect poorer families’ summer holiday, UK climate adviser says

Rich people should cut down on flying to ensure poorer families can take one sunny holiday abroad a year, the chief executive of the UK’s statutory climate adviser has said.

Emma Pinchbeck said on Wednesday that the Climate Change Committee’s most recent advice to government had been designed to protect the “annual family holiday to somewhere sunny like Spain”.

In contrast, higher-income travellers should aim to take one fewer flight a year, “rather than taking that flight off low-income households”, she said in an evidence session at the House of Lords.

The committee’s latest advice to ministers set out a limit for emissions over the five-year period to 2040 to help put the UK on track to meet its legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. 

This advice highlighted the importance of consumers taking responsibility for cutting their own carbon footprints. This includes by switching to heat pumps and electric cars when home heating systems or cars reach the end of their life.

Eating less meat and flying less often were other “smaller but important contributions” that consumers could make, the committee noted.

Pinchbeck, a former UK energy industry lobbyist, declined to comment on Wednesday when asked about Labour’s backing for plans to expand Heathrow airport. But she said she expected the government “might” consult the CCC on the airport expansion project in future.

The committee’s modelling showed in February that aviation could represent 5 per cent of the UK’s emission reductions by 2040, and that reflecting the cost of decarbonising in the price of a plane ticket could help achieve this. This could add £150 to the price of a flight from London to Alicante in Spain and add £300 to a return airfare from London to New York.

Pinchbeck also said on Wednesday that she had written to all parties including Reform and the Conservatives to offer advice on its most recent carbon budget.

There was “remarkable consistency” in public support for climate action, although this dropped as the cost of living increased, she said.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a speech last month that meeting the UK’s net zero target would be “impossible” without “bankrupting us or the country”. 

The committee consulted a representative panel of citizens while drawing up its recommendations. The panel expressed a preference for reductions in demand for flying to come from those who fly frequently, business flights and private jet use, it said.

Airlines have pledged to reach net zero by 2050, largely by switching to cleaner fuels. But these “sustainable aviation fuels” are expensive and in short supply.

“We need more targeted policy support to help aviation get to net zero, in particular on scaling up SAF and greenhouse gas removals and driven by the chancellor’s commitment to sustainable growth in aviation, rather than blunt measures that seek to discourage air travel for any cohort,” said Tim Alderslade, chief executive of trade group Airlines UK.