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Learning English - Words in the News
 
21 September, 2005 - Published 17:15 GMT
 
Growth in air travel harms environment
 
An aircraft

Climate change experts from the Tyndall Climate Research Centre in Britain have said urgent action is needed to curb the rapid growth in air travel if the government is to meet its commitments on tackling global warming. This report from Stephen Evans:

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Falling ticket prices and rising incomes are leading to rapid growth in global air travel. According to the British government, the number of British air passengers, for example, will more than double in the next quarter of a century. Increases of such an order would mean much more aviation fuel being burned and aviation fuel may be more harmful to the environment than other fuels because the resulting smoke is emitted at high altitudes.

A group of scientists at the environmental research group, the Tyndall Centre, says that if Britain is to meet its overall target for cutting damaging emissions, other uses of fuel like for heating homes or driving cars would have to be cut dramatically.

The British government wants the use of aviation fuel covered by international agreement on the environment. The difficulty for any individual government is that taxing fuel used at its own airports might push airlines to move their operations to competing airports in other countries.

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Falling ticket prices and rising incomes
Cheaper plane tickets and higher salaries

rapid growth in global air travel
many more people travelling around the world by plane

more than double in the next quarter of a century
go up by more than twice the usual number in the next 25 years

aviation fuel
aeroplane petrol

emitted at high altitudes
released a long way above the ground

environmental research group
organisation that studies the natural world

overall target
final objective

damaging emissions
harmful gases

cut dramatically
go down by a large amount

move their operations
relocate their businesses

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