Green air taxes supported by third of Brits

A new survey has revealed that a third of Britons would be willing to pay green taxes on their flights if they knew the funds raised would be utilised for carbon offsetting purposes.

However, the study by consultancy Hyder Consulting also found that nearly one in six respondents would not stop flying abroad in favour of UK holidays in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint.

Despite this, a fifth of those surveyed said they have made an effort - or will do so in the future - to take more holidays in the UK.

"It is surprising that so many UK adults say they would support higher taxes on air travel to offset the environmental impact," commented Chris Evans, head of environmental solutions at Hyder Consulting.

Currently, a number of carbon offsetting schemes allow air passengers to negate the carbon emissions released by their flights through donations to projects such as tree-planting.

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