The secretary of state for transport, Ruth Kelly, has said the Government is committed to cutting green house gases while building bigger airports. She told a House of Commons debate this week that hitting carbon emission reduction targets was compatible' with its plans to expand Gatwick and Stansted airports.
Ms Kelly said: ¡®We are championing a European emissions trading scheme whereby any increase in aviation emissions above the base level would have to be matched one for one by a reduction in carbon emissions elsewhere, paid for by the aviation sector. In that way, not only do we help to push forward with our climate change objectives, we do so in a way compatible with future economic growth.¡¯
Ms Kelly said Britain needed to move from a fuel-intensive economy to one that is low carbon and that climate change was now one of the 5 overarching goals of transport policy. |
