PASSENGERS of British Airways face a moral dilemma: from today, when they book they will be asked to pay a few pounds extra to compensate for the environmental impact of their flights.

The airline will encourage all of its passengers to make a donation which will be invested in energy-saving projects.

The amount will depend on the distance travelled, with passengers flying from London to Paris paying £5, those to Los Angeles £13 and those to Sydney £25. BA is introducing the “green fee” to persuade the Government that it takes the issue of pollution seriously.

The airline fears that ministers will adopt a European proposal for environmental taxes on flights unless the industry is seen to act to mitigate emissions. Under the scheme, passengers will be able to calculate their share of the carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, emitted by the aircraft during their journey. They will then be asked to pay a fee that will be spent on projects that help developing countries to reduce their emissions. The idea, known as carbon offsetting, is to save an equivalent amount of CO2 that would otherwise be emitted by developing countries without the investment.

BA has joined forces with Climate Care, an Oxford-based environmental trust that specialises in carbon offsetting by distributing energy-efficient lamps in South Africa and low-emission stoves in India.

Offsetting has become popular among celebrities who express concern about climate change. They usually prefer to invest in schemes that reduce CO2 emissions by planting trees. Joe Strummer, lead singer of the Clash, set up the first carbon offset forest in the world, Rebels Wood in the Isle of Skye, two years before his death in 2002.

However, Climate Care believes that tree planting does not offer a long-term solution. Trees soak up CO2 but release it again if they are burnt. Tom Morton, director of Climate Care, said: “The imagery of a tree is very nice but we cannot plant our way out of the problem of global warming. If the UK were to offset its emissions from all sources through tree planting, it would have to cover an area the size of Devon and Cornwall with trees.”

Elliot Morley, the Environment Minister, encouraged passengers to participate in BA’s scheme. He said: “While offsets are not a substitute for international action on reducing emission levels, I welcome warmly this move from BA which will help its customers offset some of the impacts of air travel. I urge strongly other airlines to follow this lead.”

Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Worldwide passenger numbers are expected to double to 7.4 billion a year by 2020, according to the Airports Council International.

The Greenskies Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups opposed to the growth in flights, said that BA had chosen the cheapest scheme. Other carbon offset schemes, such as Atmosfair, charge at least twice as much because they assume that aircraft emissions have a much greater impact at cruising altitude.

Jeff Gazzard, of the Greenskies Alliance, said: “BA simply wants to make its passengers feel less guilty about their unsustainable lifestyles. There is only one sure way to reduce climate change impact of aircraft exhaust emissions, and that is to fly less. Our casual and exatravagant use of fossil fuel must change. Holidaying in the UK and using video conferencing are two straightforward alternatives to flying.”

Mr Gazzard added that the scheme failed to differentiate between passengers in first class and business class and those in economy, who took up far less room on the aircraft and also carried less luggage.

STRUMMER'S LEGACY

• Joe Strummer became the first “carbon-neutral” pop star by planting a forest to make up for his CO2 emissions
  
  
• He said in 1996: “Bands must be contributing to global warming by their buses, trucks and the diesel used to power the stages. Can you imagine how much CO2 the pressing and the distribution of a CD creates?”
  
  
• He helped to persuade dozens of other artists to join the Future Forests carbon-offsetting scheme including Pink Floyd, Pulp, Beth Orton, Feeder, the Foo Fighters, Massive Attack and Mel C, Coldplay and Dido
  
  
• The Joe Strummer Memorial Forest, aka Rebels Wood, is being created at Orbost on the shores of Loch Bracadale, on the Isle of Skye

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