Airlines need to do more than plant trees to hit net zero, MPs told

Climate Change Committee head says firms must invest in scaleable' offsets such as carbon capture

The aviation industry must pay for costly carbon removal technologies rather than rely on using the planting of trees to claim they are reducing emissions, the head of the Climate Change Committee has said.

Chris Stark said aviation, unlike other transport sectors, was unlikely to meet targets for net zero by 2050. He said instead the industry had to use scaleable" offsets that matched ongoing emissions into future decades, but that these should be used as a last resort after directly cutting emissions.