New Civil Engineer
Tom Pashby
10 October 2024

The new chair of the Parliamentary transport select committee Ruth Cadbury has told NCE she doesn’t think the aviation sector properly compensates for its climate impact.

Discussing aviation, which the government is likely to look to expand as part of its growth plans, Cadbury said: “There’s always that trade-off between the local environmental impact and the need for flights.”

However, she suggested that she would like work to be done to rebalance costs between rail and aviation. “One of our challenges is that it’s crazy that it’s two to three times the price to travel 200km to 400km by train than to fly,” she said.

On the climate impact of the sector, Cadbury commented: “Aviation doesn’t really compensate for the climate impact of what it does. Saf (sustainable aviation fuel) may or may not change that, but Saf is only part of the story.”

Read on: New transport select committee chair says aviation doesn’t compensate for climate impact | New Civil Engineer

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