As Climate Targets Loom, International Flights To and From Australia Are on the Chopping Block

The number of international flights coming to and from Australia could reduce in the coming years due to their excessive carbon emissions and global governments’ inaction on climate change to date.

As countries around the world scramble to meet their 2030 emissions reductions targets, which are getting harder to achieve and less impactful as the world keeps polluting, one cheap, quick way to tick the box is to restrict the flights a country’s own national airlines take.

Rather than the sweeping societal change that’s needed like renewable energy reforms, stopping fossil fuel mining and burning or investing in clean public transport, it’s much easier to cut back on long haul flights. That can be done with almost immediate effect.

Flying from Europe or the Americas to Australia is carbon intensive, so it’s an obvious choice for the chopping block.

This could mean Australia has fewer flight options in future and therefore more expensive tickets. 

The Federal Government has been warned by the Australian Airports Association that Australia could be “priced out” of the international aviation network over the next decade when carbon pricing and targets start being implemented. 

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, the association said: “As Australia is at the edges of the global air network with long distances from Australian airports to major regional and global hubs in Asia, North America and the Middle East, it is essential to ensure Australia remains a viable destination for international migration, tourism and business travel.

“Failure to negotiate an effective and equitable deal for Australia may mean a contraction in Australia’s connectivity to the world.”

There are currently no binding agreements on any international airlines, but the association believes they’ll start kicking in as we get closer to 2030, a milestone in the global climate crisis when scientists saying the effects of global warming, if left unchecked, will become irreversible.

Aleksandra Bliszczyk is a Senior Reporter for VICE Australia. Follow her on Instagram, or on Twitter.