Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 1.2
Selected questions in the UK government's consultation
on
The Future of Aviation
G
ENERAL
How should the government ensure that aviation meets the external environmental costs
for which it is responsible? Should greater emphasis be placed on regulation (at global,
national or local level), economic instruments or voluntary agreements? If we should use a
mix of approaches, what are the principles that should underlie the choice of approach for
each issue?
E
NVIRONMENTAL
EFFECTS
Is a balance between mitigation and compensation the best approach for local impacts? Are
there further steps the government could take to mitigate the environmental effects of avi-
ation?
A
IRPORT
PLANNING
Could the concept of environmental capacity limits be applied successfully to UK airports?
How would limits be set? Would these be alongside or instead of limits on passenger
throughput?
Should the government encourage a system of voluntary environmental agreements
between airports, airport users and local interests, which could provide an agreed frame-
work for development and complement the statutory role of the planning system?
How should people best be compensated for the environmental impact of airports on
their local area? Should the government encourage greater use of voluntary arrangements
to compensate for, or mitigate the effects of, significant airport development?
Source:
DETR, 2000a
Monetarization of environmental costs
Different options for procedures and outcomes are implicit in Box 1.2, which lists
several of the UK government's consultative questions on the future of aviation
(DETR, 2000a), mostly relating to airports. The government's first question in Box
1.2 implies decision-making on the basis of monetarized costs and benefits as a
means of informing decisions on the extent and distribution of UK air traffic. As the
government states:
Under the polluter pays principle, external costs should be reflected in costs
incurred by the aviation industry, so that (in an ideal world) it fully meets
its external costs
(DETR, 2000b, p3).
The government briefly reviews some of the literature on monetarization of noise,
air quality and climate change impacts and considers the implications for aviation
(DETR, 2000b). However, it explicitly declines to endorse any of the valuations, and
refers to the way in which its appraisal framework for managing demand in the south-
east of England (DETR, 2000c) uses physical as well as monetary indicators (DETR,
