We are asking the BBC to adopt a policy across the corporation not to offer flights as prizes.

Climate scientists have said we need to halve our emissions in the next decade in order to avoid irreversible climate breakdown. The devastating effects of climate change are already hitting people all over the world, including in the UK.

Flying is the most high-carbon form of transport, so reducing the amount we fly is a vital part of reducing climate change emissions.

While people will always choose to fly, it seems incompatible that the BBC, in its role as a public service, promotes high-carbon travel by giving away flights as prizes.

Giveaways like this facilitate and encourage high carbon emissions, as well as feeding into the narrative that the only way to travel is to fly.

This is not just about the individual flights that are offered, it’s also about the culture of flying, which is perpetuated by institutions such as the BBC running giveaways for flights.

The world has changed since the “star prize” on Blankety Blank was a flight on Concorde. The climate crisis demands that we make drastic changes, and that includes taking tough policy decisions on things like giveaways, appropriate to our current situation.

It’s up to all of us – individuals, countries and institutions – to work together to reduce emissions. It is at odds with the current reality of the climate crisis to promote flying for leisure, and that is why, as a first step in the culture change we need to see, we are asking the BBC to stop offering flights as prizes.

This petition is run by Flight Free UK, a behaviour change charity, which challenges people to take a year off flying to reduce emissions and change the culture of travel.