This campaign has now closed
To hit climate targets, we must fly less. Most flights are taken by a tiny, rich elite, squandering carbon emissions on their luxury lifestyles. We are proposing a new way to tax flying to cut emissions and make those most responsible pay for the damage they cause – the Frequent Flyer Levy.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
Meeting climate targets will be impossible without reducing air travel. But it must be done fairly. In the UK, 70% of flights are taken by just 15% of people – typically wealthy people making multiple trips for leisure. Currently air passenger duty does not differentiate between parents who’ve scrimped and saved to afford one special family holiday and a millionaire making their 5th trip of the year to their chalet in Switzerland.
Solution
Taxation is the best tool we have to change the industry, and a Frequent Flyer Levy would increase costs with each flight taken per year. Regular flyers will either pay huge amounts, or fly less. But a family going on a summer holiday will pay no more than they do now. The main opposition parties all included an earlier version in their 2019 manifestos. Now the political consensus on net zero has been broken, we urgently need to update the economic modelling and build public support for an FFL.
