Committee on Climate Change

The UK’s legislative framework does not currently include international aviation and shipping (IA&S) emissions in carbon budgets. But it is clear that the UK’s contribution to IA&S emissions should be reflected in carbon targets, and the Committee has been asked to consider how and when they can be incorporated within the budgeting approach.

Our advice in our 2008 Report was that these sectors should not be explicitly included in the first three carbon budgets (2008-22). This was because of complexities around methodologies for inclusion and lack of progress towards an international deal in the case of shipping.

Since 2008 there has been progress in resolving methodological complexities (e.g. as regards accounting for international aviation in the EU ETS). However, further analysis is required to determine specific UK emissions projections for these sectors.

In the Fourth Budget Report (2010) we recommended that the Government accept the principle that IA&S emissions in future be included in future carbon budgets, and that we intend to make specific recommendations on how to adjust the second, third and fourth budgets to allow inclusion following our review of international shipping emissions, to be published in autumn 2011. This is within the schedule set out in the Climate Change Act, which requires the Government to take a decision on inclusion of IA&S before the end of 2012.
 
In the meantime, the recommended Domestic Action and Global Offer budgets for the fourth period (2023-27) do not include IA&S, but have been set so as to be compatible with meeting a 2050 total emissions target of 160 MtCO₂e with IA&S included; given limited scope for abatement in IA&S sectors, this implies the need for deeper cuts in other sectors than would otherwise be the case.