Episode 28: Reducing Emissions from Aviation

At the global level, it is estimated that aviation accounts for 2.4% of annual anthropogenic CO₂ emissions and 4% of anthropogenic global heating up to 2021.  As the sector continues to grow, those impacts will increase, and by 2050, aviation could be responsible for around 22% of CO₂ emissions alone. In this episode, Steph David discusses the problem of emissions from aviation, how those emissions can be mitigated and the role the law can play in that mitigation with three experts in the field:

1. Ali Warrington, Head of Aviation, Energy and Heat at Possible, a climate campaigning organisation
2. Alex Chapman, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation leading up their programme on air transport and tourism
3. David Kay, Legal Director at Opportunity Green, an organisation focussing on bold and fair solutions to address climate change.

The panel discuss the current policy approach to decarbonise aviation, aviation taxation and legal barriers to its reform, the role of carbon pricing, the international nature of aviation and non-CO₂ emissions.

You can read more:

1. Possible’s judicial review challenge to the Jet Zero Strategy (permission to appeal was refused): R (Possible (The 10:10 Foundation)) v Secretary of State for Transport [2025] EWHC 1101 (Admin), see here.
2. Opportunity Green’s legal analysis, ‘Clarifying legal powers to regulate international aviation under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme’ (December 2025), available here
3. Opportunity Green’s legal briefing, ‘Clearing the air on how we tax aviation fuels’ (November 2024), together with the legal opinion of Estelle Dehon KC and Dr Lois Lane (Cornerstone Barristers), available here
4. Opportunity Green’s analysis on the need to include international aviation and shipping in NDCs: (i) Submission to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea’s advisory proceedings on climate change; (ii) Submission to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinions on climate change; and (iii) Legal opinion on inclusion on non-CO2 aviation impacts in Nationally Determined Contributions.
5. Possible and the New Economics Foundation’s report, “Flying fair: modernising the air transport tax system”, available here
6. Possible’s analysis, “Reforming the UK’s approach to private jet taxation, see here