Climate Change Bill [HL]

I have a great deal of sympathy with the arguments which have been made by the supporters of this amendment, but on the whole I am inclined to leave the clause as it is, simply because it is a very complicated matter. We all agree that we have got to do something about aviation, but I certainly take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Soley, that merely to extrapolate the present rate of growth and assume no technological advances is not a reasonable way of looking at the future. However, we have to do something. It is worth bearing in mind that the Secretary of State would have to make water vapour a designated gas because a significant contribution made by aviation to the greenhouse effect comes from the water vapour associated with it. That is only because water vapour is emitted at high altitudes, whereas when it comes out of a car exhaust, it does not have that much effect. So there are complications. Indeed, given the complications—getting a major international agreement and incorporating it into international carbon trading arrangements—I wonder whether in the short term we could do something at the EU level. Although it may be untidy, I know that there have been discussions between our Government and the German Government in particular on the question of whether we should not preferentially tax aviation fuel within the European Union. We could do that without involving the significant number of international aviation bodies that I suspect would otherwise be involved. As I say, it would be untidy, but there are shorter-term ways of tackling the problem. I therefore suggest that we leave the clause as it is.