Welcome to the Green Alliance podcast. We're the charity and think tank that is all about

achieving ambitious leadership for the environment. I'm Katerina Brandmeyer, head of climate policy

at Green Alliance. In this week's episode, we're talking about aviation. I think it's very hard

for anyone to know with certainty how much aviation is going

to be sustainable in a net zero future.

Meeting the government's 2015 net zero emissions target will bring about changes across

all parts of the economy, including to the way we travel.

Transport is currently the biggest emitting sector in the UK, responsible for almost

one-third of the country's emissions. And getting the sector to net zero will need a whole range of solutions,

including accelerating the uptake of electric vehicles, super plates, petrol and diesel ones,

encouraging people to get out of their cars to take public transport, walk and cycle more,

as well as take trains for longer journeys. But one era that might seem harder

to decarbonize is aviation. And to find out more about what the net zero means for this part of

the transport sector, I'm joined by Kate Hewitt, who is Deputy Director at the Aviation

Environment Federation, a not-for-profit campaigning organization working on the environmental impact of aviation.

Thank you very much for joining us, Kate. Good to be here. Could you tell us a bit about the climate impact of aviation? There's a report in 2019 for the CCC on behaviour change that put

it this way. Flying is a uniquely high impact activity

and is the quickest and cheapest way for a consumer to increase their carbon footprint.

On an individual level, flying is one of the most carbon-intensive things that we can do.

The climate benefits of giving up driving or switching to a vegan diet, for example.

But while they're really good things to do, those can be wiped out by taking just one

long-haul return flight per year. Before the pandemic, aviation emissions globally were

...