The Plane Truth: Aviation and the Environment

1 Introduction 7 2 How fast is the aviation industry growing? 8 3 Noise pollution 11 4 Local air pollution 14 5 The impact of aviation on global warming and climate change 18 6 Is aviation and airport development good for the economy? 23 PART 2: A new aviation policy 7 A new aviation policy based on transport demand management 27 Summary of part 1: The impact of aviation on the environment 35 Summary of part 2: A new aviation policy 36 Appendix 1 37 Appendix 2 38 Appendix 3 39 References 40 Biographical details 42 The Plane Truth: Aviation and the Environment 5 Since its foundation, The Ashden Trust has taken an active interest in transport policy as it relates to environmental issues. When the trustees were approached by Transport 2000 to fund research on the environmental implications of current trends in aviation, they were pleased to do so. Professor John Whitelegg and Nick Williams were commissioned to draw together existing information about the environmental impact of aviation, and to clarify issues which demand attention. It is timely that their work is now being published. The UK government has recently released its consultation paper on air transport. Responses to that consultation will provide important material to feed into the government's proposed White Paper on air transport, which is due in 2001. This study identifies a range of significant issues surrounding existing practice and predicted trends in aviation as these affect the environment. It has assembled data which must provoke serious concerns at the absence of any systematic approach to the subject of aviation and the environment. The Ashden Trust and Transport 2000 hope that it will stimulate debate leading to a significant realignment of the policy approach to the future development of aviation. Director The Ashden Trust Foreword 6 Part 1: The impact of aviation on the environment 7 This report looks at the current level of civil aviation* and considers the remarkable forecasts for the rates of growth within this industry. It looks at the impact that aviation is currently having on the environment and estimates what that impact might be if these widely predicted rates of growth are achieved. The report concludes that the way aviation affects the environment requires serious discussion. The aviation industry has grown at an extremely rapid rate and it looks as if future growth may be even faster. Aviation has the highest …