Government to include aviation and shipping in Climate Change Bill

The aviation and shipping industries will be included in the UK's carbon footprint calculations after the government today bowed to pressure from environmental groups and rebel MPs.

Under initial proposals the Climate Change Bill, currently going through parliament, would not have required UK-related emissions arising from international aviation and shipping to be accounted for in the legislation's legally binding emission reduction targets.

But in the latest of a series of radical changes to the government's climate change strategy, climate change minister Ed Miliband will today announce that he will accept an amendment to include these emission sources in the bill.

When it becomes law next month, the bill will make the UK the first country in the world to commit to legally binding cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions, which were recently increased from 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050.

The decision not to include aviation and shipping, which account for 7.5 per cent of all UK emissions, was seen as a loophole in the government's legislation by green groups, who argued that it would undermine the bill's credibility.

Up to 86 MPs also called for the bill to be toughened, threatening to back an amendment to be introduced in the Commons later today that would have extended the targets to cover planes and ships travelling to and from the UK.

With the backbench rebellion raising the prospect of defeat for the original version of the bill, the government today introduced a new amendment put forward by Labour MP Elliot Morley which agrees to take shipping and aviation into account.

Friends of the Earth executive director Andy Atkins welcomed the news, praising the government's decision. "The world's first climate change law will also be a world class climate change law," he said. "People from right around the UK demanded a strong law. The government have listened."

The move will further crank up pressure on the aviation industry to curb its carbon footprint. Last week, the European Council officially approved a decision to include aviation in the EU Emission Trading Scheme from 2012.