Ryanair has hit back at a UK government minister's claims that major airlines are failing to take climate change seriously.
Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement that the comments by environment minister Ian Pearson were "foolish and ill-informed".
Pearson branded Ryanair as the "irresponsible face of capitalism" and said Mr O'Leary was refusing to recognise climate change as a genuine problem, according to a report in the Guardian.
The minister described the attitude of major American airlines as "a disgrace" and warned that British Airways was "only just about playing ball" in the fight to reduce carbon emissions.
Mr O'Leary said in a statement that he believed Mr Pearson "hasn't a clue what he's talking about" and claimed that airlines were neither the cause nor the solution to climate change.
He said Mr Pearson had not said anything about emissions from road transport and the power generation industry, which he claimed were higher than those of aviation.
"At a time when aviation generates just 1.6 per cent of greenhouse gases, isn't it time that Minister Pearson and other equally foolish politicians actually tackled the real causes of climate change?" Mr O'Leary said.
Mr Pearson believes the predicted growth in airlines' carbon emissions are such a threat to the government's plans to cut emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 that he wants the European Union to go further - and faster - and include airline emissions in its trading scheme, the Guardianreported.