People who fly more than twice a year should be heavily taxed for the sake of the planet, environmentalists have urged. 

According to Our World In Data, aviation accounted for 2.5% of global emissions - even though 90% of the world do not take a single flight in a calendar year. 

Britain’s Climate Change Committee has suggested a levy on frequent fliers, to discourage rich people from jetting overseas at the drop of a hat, while allowing ordinary families to enjoy an annual holiday. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, climate policy analyst Oisín Coughlan said there is merit in the idea. 

“We’re going to have to overall fly less over the coming decade or two if we’re going to live within the carbon budgets and constrain climate breakdown,” he said. 

“But we need to do it fairly; so, environmentalists tend to talk about the ‘polluter pays’ principle. 

“So, if you pollute, you should pay a tax to disincentive that and raise money for better alternatives.” 

A plane landing on the runway at Dublin Airport Ireland. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Coughlan said it is important that the idea has public support and should not impact those who rarely fly anywhere. 

“We have realised over time, we have got to make sure that it’s done progressively,” he said. 

“That richer people pay more, regular people pay less and poorer families don’t pay it all.

“The most standard example is that one or two flights, there’d be no tax. 

“Then for the next flight, there might be a €50 charge and then after that, it gets higher and higher - it’s a frequent flier levy.” 

Planet or growth?

Yesterday, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary urged the Government to increase Dublin Airport’s passenger cap in order to boost economic growth.

He has also said that people should ‘stop agonising over the environment’. 

It is not an approach that Mr Coughlan agrees with. 

“If that happens, the entirety of our carbon budget - the amount of carbon we can emit if we want to stay within the limits of climate change - will be used by flying by 2040,” he said. 

Main image: An aerial view of Dublin Airport from the perspective of a Boeing 737. Picture by: Mint Photography / Stockimo / Alamy Stock Photo.