asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have calculated the increase in carbon emissions the proposed additional runway at Stansted Airport would produce; and what the projected figures are for the first five years of the runway's operation. [HL5974]

Our current forecasts of UK aviation carbon dioxide emissions are reported in UK Air Passenger Demand and CO₂ Forecasts, published in November 2007 and available at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/environmentalissues/ukairdemandandco 2forecasts/.

These suggest that a second runway at Stansted would cause the UK’s annual carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions to increase by 2.3 million tonnes per annum, when averaged over the period 2015 to 2075. Over the first five years of the runway’s operation, the additional CO₂ emissions are projected to rise from around zero to around 1 million tonnes per annum.

The Government are strongly committed to achieving reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and aim to do so in the most effective way. This is why we have led the debate within Europe to include all flights arriving at and departing from EU airports in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2012 onwards. Any growth in aircraft emissions above the ETS cap will only be possible by the sector paying for commensurate carbon savings made elsewhere in the economy.