Aviation: Air Pollution

(asked on 30th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment the FlyZero initiative, announced on 20 July, has made of the research by D S Lee et al The contribution of global aviation to anthropogenic climate forcing for 2000 to 2018, published in volume 244 of Atmospheric Environment, which found that non-CO2 effects contribute approximately two-thirds of aviation-induced warming; and what steps, if any, they have taken to adjust the work of that initiative in the light of this research.


Answered by
Lord Callanan Portrait
Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This question was answered on 14th January 2021

The FlyZero project will investigate the commercial and technical feasibility for a zero-carbon emitting aircraft. A much wider sustainability agenda is at the core of the planned aircraft studies. Beyond tail-pipe carbon emissions, FlyZero will consider full lifecycle sustainability, including other sources of environmental impact, such as non-CO2 effects.

The FlyZero team have considered the work of Prof. Lee et al, in addition to many other publications and work, such as modelling and data, from UK and international experts on the topic of non-CO2 impacts. This includes the European Commission report: “Updated analysis of the non-CO2 climate impacts of aviation and potential policy measures pursuant to EU Emissions Trading System Directive Article 30(4)” released in December 2020.

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