Climate Change Bill [HL]

I was concerned by the remarks of the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, in which he implied that curbing aviation would be some sort of example. I draw his attention and that of the Committee to the speech made by the high commissioner for Ghana a couple of months ago in which he commented on the nature of the debate emerging, where there would be curbing of air transport of products that contribute greatly to the development of his African country and a number of others. That is part of the general story. Aviation is part of the modern world; it is part of enabling many countries to participate in globalisation, increased growth in their economy and standards in health and so on. We should also recall that aviation is and is likely to remain a small proportion of total emissions produced by the burning of fossil fuels. If we envisage, as I hope we do, a prosperous and clean future for our country and for all the countries of the world, it will probably be based on clean forms of power, especially nuclear power and renewables. If that is the case, in this prosperous and international future, carbon emissions may be associated with transportation. But if the only emissions are associated with transportation in a modern way and with the high growth of technology, we would easily be able to meet the 70 per cent cuts that we are looking for in emissions. We must keep in mind the total world picture that we envisage for the future, which was the subject of our debate yesterday. We do not want to go back to a world that is different; we want to move forward. Therefore, we should keep this point in mind as we consider aviation. In my experience of meteorology, I have worked very closely with other countries on aviation and meteorology, and there have been good examples. I have just mild reservations with the noble Earl, Lord Selborne, with whom I normally agree on almost everything in environmental matters. There were some extremely interesting examples of the way in which international civil aviation, meteorologists and vulcanologists came together in the 1990s to introduce better warning systems that greatly improved the safety of aviation. ICAO is a responsible body which works with other international bodies. It will take some time. We are dealing with the long-standing 1944 Chicago Convention, and should work within that framework. Partly because meteorology is an essential part of aviation, meteorology and climatology work together, and environment, meteorology and climatology work together. This is a strong forum for that and we should have confidence in the Government’s use of it to help to promote their general objective.