8 March 2006 - The average passenger leaving a flight from Gatwick airport is responsible for 310 kg of CO2 emissions – in everyday terms the equivalent of 85 kilo bags of soot being thrown out of the aeroplane window, according to a new report.

A ‘plane carrying 200 passengers would produce some 17,000 bags of soot, according to ‘Gatwick – Climate Change Culprit’, produced by the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign. And because CO2 emissions are nearly three times as damaging when released into the upper atmosphere – the average flight is responsible for the equivalent of 46,000 bags of soot dumped at ground level.

Caroline Lucas, a Euro-MP whose South-East England constituency covers Gatwick Airport , is herself drafting a report on the aviation industry’s impact on climate change for debate in the European Parliament later this year.

“This report should be a shocking wake-up call for the airlines and the Government,” she said.

“It can be very difficult to visualize the amounts of pollutants generated by aircraft, but by describing CO2 emissions in terms we can all understand - bags of soot - this report makes clear our collective responsibility to reduce the relative size of the aviation sector.”

“The industry itself claims new technology will help reduce its emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, but the reality is that any such cuts will be negated by the projected rise in air traffic.

“The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has calculated that by 2040 – if the industry continues to expand as forecast – aviation will be responsible for 100 per cent of total permissible EU emissions. This is patently absurd, and we must take measures at both national and EU level to cut subsidies and require airlines to reduce their emissions – and that means reducing the number of flights.”

She added: “Whatever measures the Government and EU agree by which to deliver it, we simply must reduce demand for flying – or face climate disaster. If the Government is serious about tackling climate change, as it maintains, it must halt all runway building and rule out any further expansion of capacity at Gatwick and other airports.”

ENDS