Why the government’s Jet Zero strategy for ‘guilt-free flights’ is an absolute farce

There’s an exquisite kind of irony in the government releasing its “Jet Zero” strategy, outlining how it will “reach net zero aviation and deliver guilt-free flying”, on the same day that the UK is set to hit its highest temperature on record, and with Europe literally burning amid raging wildfires.

No one but the most diehard of climate change deniers can continue to dismiss the fact that the world is hotting up at an alarming pace; the evidence is right in front of us, written in the rising mercury in giant, unignorable letters. And yet this latest report from the Department for Transport (DfT), which talks excitedly of “cutting-edge industries”, “new technologies” and “new infrastructure” – even employing the phrase “the sky’s the limit” to kick it all off – has its head buried so deep in the sand it’s practically reached the Earth’s molten core (which is only marginally hotter than central London right now).

Because amid all the six-point plan’s whizzy-sounding techno fixes like “zero emission aircraft”, and the impressive-sounding investment – to the tune of £165m for an Advanced Fuels Fund to develop a domestic sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) industry – the strategy seems to be missing one key word: reduce.

There is not a single mention of reducing the number of planes in the sky, nor the number of flights taken. And the simple fact is, to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050, we need to be flying less and less each year.

“Rather than a pragmatic plan to fully wean the aviation industry off fossil fuels, it allows the sector to carry on polluting with impunity for the next 30 years,” says Matt Finch, UK director at green group Transport & Environment (T&E), of the report. “Whilst there are some good commitments, it will go down in history as a missed opportunity.”

Tim Johnson, director of the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), adds: “Ministers are not being honest about what it will take to achieve net zero flying. The strategy avoids answering the difficult questions like the need to fly less, and calling a halt to airport expansions.”

The report does commit to the aim of “ensuring that emissions do not go above 2019 levels”, which is at least a start.

But every “solution” outlined in Jet Zero – improving efficiency for aircraft and airspace use, developing SAFs, investing in zero-carbon planes using electricity and hydrogen,…