AEF’s Cait Hewitt: “I hope the era of aviation exceptionalism…
Cait Hewitt, Policy Direct or at the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) talks about the problem of UK aviation’s planned expansion, and the absence of any measures to make any real dents in its growing carbon emissions. Well worth reading. A few quotes: [on the current government’s Jet Zero strategy that is built on highly “ambitious” assumptions of future technology, that does not yet exist.] Cait: “If you went to the doctor as a smoker, and said, ‘What shall I do?’ And the doctor said, ‘I think you should carry on with your 40-a-day habit, because I’m a very optimistic person, I believe in future there’s going to be some technology that will allow us to replace your lungs.’ Would you describe that person as ambitious or just completely reckless?” She acknowledges that people want to fly, but wishes that holidays were less about “an impressive sounding destination, and more about experience and adventure, and having time with your family. For children, you can do lots of fun stuff without having to travel that far.” She longs for is a sense of emergency and urgency to start to be demonstrated by politicians about the serious changes already becoming apparent from a warming planet. .Tweet Cait Hewitt: ‘I hope the era of aviation exceptionalism is over’ The campaigner challenges the economic case for airport expansion in the UK and the industry’s sustainability ‘hype’ By Hency Mance, FT 24.7.2023 This year, the British government proudly unveiled an “ambitious” plan to make airports in England net zero by 2040. Only one problem: the target does not include the actual flights, which account for 95% of airports’ emissions. For Cait Hewitt, such announcements are “a deliberate strategy to comfort the flying public” into wrongly believing aviation is on the path to sustainability. Hewitt has spent 16 years at the UK campaign group the Aviation Environment Federation opposing airport expansions. She was part of efforts to block Heathrow’s third runway. But perhaps her most notable role has been “to have challenged some of the bullshit from the aviation industry”. For many climate problems, we now have solutions. We can build wind and solar farms cheaply, drive electric cars and reforest the countryside. But air travel — which accounts for 7% of UK emissions, not far beyond the entire electricity network’s 11% — defies such simple fixes. Electric batteries are too heavy for even mid-distance flights. Hydrogen fuels and biofuels would require vast amounts of renewable energy and agricultural land respectively. Undeterred, the industry wants growth. This month Gatwick set out plans for a second runway. Heathrow plans to resubmit its application for a third runway by the end of the year. Smaller airports are expanding too. In all, this would increase the UK’s aviation capacity by a quarter, or 97.4mn passengers a year, something climate analysts say is “incompatible” with the country hitting net zero by 2050. “It sometimes feels as though they’re all having a go [to expand] now, just in case climate policy catches up with them soon,” says Hewitt. Yet she does not just argue that the environmental costs of airport expansion outweig
