Ecological campaigners have made aviation one of their top targets in the battle against climate change, but the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) believes the industry's bad reputation is not entirely fair.

The Committee on Climate Change recently called on the government to make sure caps on the aviation sector's carbon emissions form part of any agreement reached at the Copenhagen summit in December.

It claimed that aviation emissions could account for around a fifth of all carbon emissions by 2050 unless action is taken, and demanded that governments in developed countries take the lead in countering the problem.

ATAG's executive director Paul Steele conceded that carbon emissions are a problem for the industry, but insisted it is working towards a goal of carbon neutral growth.

He would like to see ecological campaigners focusing on other sectors, instead of concentrating on the "symbolic industry" of aviation.

"There are many other industries that produce a greater amount of CO2 than aviation, whose emissions are also growing," he said.

Mr Steele has a good point. There are plenty of industries which have unacceptable and unsustainable levels of carbon emissions, and it is time they came under pressure to clean up their acts.

However, there is no getting away from the fact that emissions from aviation have to be controlled in order for real progress on climate change to be made.

Perhaps it is not the aviation industry which will be the major driver in this, but the general public. After all, the equation is simple - fewer people taking flights means lower emissions.