A new report out of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology in the Imperial College of London suggests that frequent flyers should be taxed in an effort to help discourage excessive travel.

The study, which is called Behaviour change, public engagement and Net Zero, was commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change and is a broader look at the how the economy of the country could change as it pushes to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. One of the ideas proposed by the author is a series of taxes levied against travelers to discourage them from excessive travel.

Simply put, the study suggests that “an Air Miles Levy which escalates with the air miles travelled by an individual within a three year accounting period could provide strong price signals to curb some demand by less price-sensitive frequent flyers, encourage shifting from long-haul to short-haul destinations and fund research into low-carbon aviation technology, while sparing the large majority of travellers any extra cost.”

Frequent flyer programs, for their part, do a great deal to encourage customers to travel and spend excessively. As designed, most frequent flyer programs give an increasing number of rewards back to travelers in stratified tiers – effectively providing an incentive to travel more. After flying 25,000 miles and spending $4,000 with American, Delta and United, for example, passengers earn low-level elite status, which affords them perks like upgrades, award mileage bonuses and a free checked bag. But at 100,000 miles and $15,000 spent annually, the bonuses multiply to include all sorts of extra perks – including the opportunity for international upgrades.

Further incentives to travel are baked into most loyalty programs because elite status expires near the end of the year; to requalify it’s necessary to fly the same amount every year.

Adding a tax to frequent travel, according to the author of the study, could help curb the demand for elite status encourage travelers to think more about the environment (and their pocketbooks).

The tax also wouldn’t affect most travelers in the United Kingdom. According to Quartz, which tracked down the article in full, the study reports that 15% of the population in the country is responsible for 70% of the flying – and most of those travelers likely don’t travel enough to qualify for a frequent travel tax.

For those that do spend a lot of time on airplanes, researchers hope that the tax might encourage travelers to take alternative forms of transportation or vacation to close-to-home destinations. And and as for the proceeds, money funneled in from the tax could go back into carbon-offsetting initiatives.

Idealistic as the tax may be, it’s still a long way from becoming a reality. As commissioned, Behaviour change, public engagement and Net Zero, is simply to explore what the economy could do to cut down on emissions. Now, the UK government needs to act.