London, 26 February 2025: The UK Climate Change Committee's seventh carbon budget advice was published this morning, charting a future for the country’s shipping and aviation sectors.

The report shows that shipping is overtaking aviation on the path to net zero, but government policy is pivotal for getting both sectors on track to meet their targets.

Nuala Doyle, Policy Officer at the SASHA Coalition and Opportunity Green, said:

"The CCC paints a worrying picture of aviation becoming the UK’s biggest polluter by 2040. Avoiding this requires action today: targeting support to e-kerosene producers, strengthening the SAF mandate’s e-fuel sub-targets in the long term, and expanding the UK ETS to cover all aviation and non-CO2 emissions, such as contrails. This would make aviation pay fairly for all its climate impacts, and unlock additional finances to drive the transition."

Shipping is projected to decarbonise at a quicker rate than aviation, but still has steps to go. Nuala said,

"It is clear that biofuels and fossil LNG should at most play a marginal role in the future maritime fuel mix, meaning investment in these alternative fuels is liable to end up as sunk costs and stranded assets. The CCC identifies hydrogen e-fuels as a key part of maritime's decarbonisation pathway. We now need policy to help the sector transition: expanding the ETS to cover international shipping, generating additional revenues that can fund financial mechanisms to help e-fuel producers access investment. We hope the government puts this into action with an updated maritime decarbonisation strategy as a matter of priority."