This house would tax aviation fuel.

The debate over whether international aviation should be taxed brings together two global problems: how to control emissions that cause climate change; and how to find additional funding for development aid, for example to help meet the Millennium Development Goals. Aircraft contribute to climate change by releasing CO2, other greenhouse gases, and also particulates (very small particles, e.g. of soot). Aviation is now estimated to produce 3% of all global CO2 emissions, but this is rising fast with the increasing affordability of flights for hundreds of millions of people worldwide¹. It is estimated that air travel will produce 15% of all CO2 emissions by 2050². The problem is made worse by studies that suggest aviation is much more damaging to the climate than its level of CO2 output indicates, because the other gases it emits are even more damaging, and because the high altitudes at which these gases are emitted increases their impact. At present, aviation is largely exempt from fuel taxes, although a few countries (including America and Japan) levy a tax on fuel used only on domestic flights. Green groups have long argued that aviation should pay for the costs of the pollution it causes. In the Kyoto Protocol, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was charged with researching the ways in which this could be done, but no actual measures have yet been taken. Since 2000, the European Union has increasingly discussed taking action, both unilaterally and by lobbying in international forums. The United States and Australia are particularly opposed to a global tax on aviation, but other states have been more supportive.

¹ Transport Gooru, "GAO Report on Aviation and Climate Change Says Aircraft Emissions Expected to Grow", 13/07/2011,

² Andy Bready, "Eco Facts", Ecoworld, 2011,