Originally Posted by tigertanaka

Good link, I was looking for something similar recently and struggled to find such a site.

Perhaps we could take some pointers from the way company cars are taxed if we looking at ways that the tax system could drive behavioural change. 18 years ago, when I first got a company car (a Vectra SRi belching out a mighty 212g of CO2/km), the company car tax payable was a factor of the list price of the car and my annual business mileage. However since 2002, the system has been based on a factor of the list price and the CO2 emissions of the car with the thresholds gradually being tweaked over the years to "encourage" drivers to choose cars with lower emissions. This has clearly had an effect on my car choice as the CO2 emissions on my cars have gone from 212 (the Vectra) > 152 > 134 > 119 > 103 (re-evaluated at 121 after the emissions scandal) > 112 (current car). It would be cost prohibitive for the majority of company car drivers to choose a high emitting car today due to the tax bill they will incur.

Now, if APD followed a similar system and the tax due was dependent on the actual emissions of the aircraft scheduled on the route, it would encourage airlines to fly newer, more efficient planes on their UK routes. Either customers would see a price advantage in picking the airline with less polluting planes or the airline would be able to charge more for their newer aircraft, knowing that the end customer price would come down as there would be less APD to pay than their competitors operating planes with higher emissions.

A 747-400 emits 2,875g CO2 on LHR-JFK whereas the A350-1000 only produces 2,139g for the same route - 25% less. It is simply not realistic to reduce UK demand for air travel by 25% but we can still drive down emissions by encouraging airlines to fly (or passengers to choose) more efficient aircraft.