The government-appointed Climate Change Committee is poised to report Britain must cut greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 and the cuts must include air travel.
The committee will call for a near end to the use of carbon fuels in power generation by 2030 and say airlines and shipping have to be included when it publishes its findings today.
Its report will accept emissions from transport cannot be cut as fast as those by power plants, but will suggest air travel is subject to “an equal level of scrutiny”. Air and sea travel have so far been left outside emissions-reduction targets.
New energy and climate secretary Ed Milliband welcomed the findings saying: “We need to act now to avoid dangerous climate change.”
Chairman of the committee Adair Turner is head of the Financial Services Authority and former director general of the Confederation of British Industry.