Emissions from planes included for first time in climate change plans for UK

by Dave Keating | October 27, 2008 at 03:55 am

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The UK has strengthened its emissions targets in a new amendment, agreeing to make international aviation part of the carbon emissions target for the first time, after the failure to include it initially had drawn criticism.

Ed Miliband, the new secretary of state for energy and climate change, won environmental plaudits when he declared earlier this month that the UK would be the first country in the world to commit to legally binding cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions.

The Climate Change Bill committed the country to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050.

But the target did not include emissions from international aviation and shipping.

Green campaigners said the omission made the target meaningless - like agreeing to go on a diet but not including chocolate cake - and threatened to oppose the Bill until the law was strengthened.