- A climate-change advisory group, which helps the UK government shape policy, has called for a ban on all frequent flyer reward programs to discourage people from traveling by air so much.
- The Committee on Climate Change said in a report last week that just 15% of the entire British population take 70% of all flights from the country.
- It has also called for an “air miles levy” to punish people who fly long distances, which would target those who rack up the most air miles, rather than people who travel shorter distances.
- These recommendations were made in an attempt to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A climate-change advisory group is calling on the UK government to ban frequent flyer reward schemes to discourage people from traveling by air.
In a report published last week, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) — which advises the UK government — noted that about 15% of the entire UK population take 70% of all flights from the country.
One way to punish this elite group of travelers is to “introduce regulation to ban frequent flyer reward schemes that stimulate demand,” the group said. It did not give specifics.
Frequent flyer programs — provided by almost all airlines around the world — are designed to reward and encourage customers for traveling with the same airline, by giving them the option to upgrade their class, or get free flights, if they rack up a certain amount of points.
Some passengers take extra flights to reach or maintain benefits with certain airlines, which is the kind of behavior the proposal would target.
The CCC’s proposal could discourage flyers from remaining loyal to certain airlines or discourage them from flying as much as before.
Airlines would also risk losing out to competitors as travelers lose incentive to stay loyal.
Airlines who partner with banks to issue airline-branded credit cards could also lose revenue, as they currently receive money from the bank for every mile the card user accrues, Bloomberg reported in 2017.
The CCC has also proposed an “air miles levy” to target frequent flyers while protecting those who don’t travel as much or travel shorter distances.
By placing the levies on frequent flyers, rather than a flat fuel tax, those who don’t fly as often would in theory not be disproportionately affected.
“Aviation has so far enjoyed generous tax treatment despite a large proportion of flights being taken by a small, wealthy segment of the population,” the CCC said.
“Given that there is a finite budget of carbon emissions allowable if global warming is to be held below 1.5 degrees, the highly uneven distribution of emissions due to flying raise equity concerns.”
The levy would increase according to the number of air miles flown, rather than the number of flights taken, the CCC said. Carbon emissions from one long-haul flight could be higher than those from several short-haul flights.
Imposing an “air miles levy” would “limit rising demand for flying in a way that does not make it inaccessible to lower-income households [and] encourage shift in demand from flying to trains and from long-haul to short-haul,” the CCC said.
The report also listed a series of recommendations to help the UK government achieve its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 — a challenge that, according to the CCC, the country is not ready to meet at this rate.
Here are some of the other recommendations:
- Increase government funding for the procurement of electric vehicles for the UK government and local authorities.
- Reopen disused rail lines and bus services in the UK to make people less reliant on cars.
- Fund training in plant-based, or vegan, cooking so people can eat less meat and dairy when they’re out.
- Introduce laws to discourage larger-than-required portion sizing in restaurants.
The report comes as more and more governments and businesses are signaling willingness to take climate change more seriously.
Environmental activists have also resort to extreme protest measures in recent days, with a demonstrator linked to the UK’s Extinction Rebellion movement climbing on top of a British Airways plane last week, ostensibly to bring attention to “the climate and ecological crisis.”
Read more of Business Insider’s climate coverage here.
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
