The challenges to going green

The challenges to going green

Providing more than 65.5 million jobs and supporting 3.6 per cent of the world’s GDP, it’s undeniable that the aviation industry makes a momentous contribution to global economic activity. Precisely for this same reason, our industry has a huge responsibility in ensuring sustainability of its global growth and respect for the environment.

Improving the environmental performance of aviation is a challenge, but one the industry is committed to meeting. In 2004, ICAO adopted three major environmental goals.

1. Aviation fleet fuel efficiency will improve by 1.5 per cent per annum between now and 2020.
2. By 2050, net aviation carbon emissions will be half of what they were in 2005.
3. From 2020, net carbon emissions from aviation will be capped through carbon neutral growth.

These industry goals are ambitious, but doable, and achieving them requires joint effort from all stakeholders: airlines, airports, passengers, governments, public institutions and regulators, NGOs and more.

Montserrat Barriga, ERA Director General, spoke to some of these stakeholders to hear the challenges of achieving these goals.

What do you think are the biggest environmental challenges, both generally and for aviation?

Andreas Kollbye Aks, Deputy Account Manager/Deputy COO, Widerøe: Firstly, the major challenge is to get a momentum on ‘green tech’ developments within heavy polluting industries. Secondly, although lighthouse initiatives within aviation may increase awareness and vision, we need financial incentives to pave the way for big scale development of low/zero emissions solutions.

Árni Gunnarsson, Managing Director, Air Iceland Connect: The human-caused disruption of the natural balance is among our biggest challenges. We are causing ecological imbalance with disturbances such as pollution and irresponsible use of natural resources. Severe and constant disturbances to our ecosystem will result in environmental degradation and the risk to the ecosystem to never recover back to ecological balance.

Andrew Murphy, Aviation Manager, European Federation for Transport and Environment: To get the technology that exists but is not in use into the real world as soon as possible. The recent IPCC report warned us that we have only 12 years left to avoid catastrophic climate change. That’s obviously alarming, but what should keep us encouraged is that many of the solutions we need to solve the climate crisis exist today – we’re just slow in deploying them at a rate sufficient to cut emissions and bring them to zero.

For example electrofuels for aviation – produced using large quantities of renewable electricity – can drastically cut emissions from the aviation sector. They’re getting increasing attention from policy makers and those studying solutions to climate change. This technology isn’t new. But it’s not being deployed, and that needs to change if we are to start cutting emissions now, as the Paris Agreement requires. 

Flying aircraft will not be environmentally friendly in the near future. Aviation’s environmental challenges are on the ground as well as in the air. The industry is highly focussed on emission savings and aircraft replacement, carbon offsetting, as well as waste disposal and noise.

What do you think the aviation industry can do better to overcome those challenges globally and in Europe specifically?

Kollbye Aks: Agree on standardised regional and worldwide measures to monitor and reward, financially or by other means, low/zero emissions initiatives and operations.  

Gunnarsson: The aviation industry is the only industry that has voluntarily agreed on a commitment to combat climate change. IATA is committed and is both the source of information and the umbrella organisation on environmental matters for the industry. 

Part of the issue we have is the need to readdress the European regulation on waste from international transport. We need to continue to explore the use of alternative fuels and energy sources in co-operation with local governments, as well as international manufacturers of machinery and equipment.

Murphy: Recognise that, while decarbonising aviation has many economic benefits, there will ultimately be a cost. That cost may take the form of carbon pricing or increased fuel costs, but a cost of some scale seems unavoidable. Industry knows its own sector best, and it’s therefore industry that needs to take the lead in preparing for this impact.

Less time needs to be spent opposing measures such as EU ETS, which is actually an important first step towards pricing aviation more effectively. More time needs to be spent promoting an orderly transition – how can we get the cost of sustainable fuels down, what infrastructure is needed, what is a realistic pathway for uptake of sustainable fuels? And how we can ensure that the fuels used are truly sustainable – delivering the emission reductions claimed, and without negative environmental or social impacts. Industry needs to be a lead voice on all these aspects.

Do you agree or disagree that CORSIA should be the only global measure?

Kollbye Aks: The more standardised, the more efficient and fairer a measure becomes. Moreover, a measure targeting aviation specifically may be more effective than a wider measure meant to capture more industries. However, as focus on environmental concerns and climate recognition varies around the world, regional measures and incentives (such as EU ETS) may be encouraged in parallel, even if the ultimate goal is to have a single global measure. We cannot afford to wait, or make lack of global harmonisation (around CORSIA) an excuse to postpone the green journey.

Gunnarsson: I believe that consistency and homogeneity are good when it comes to globalising a method. It can hardly be the case for success to have many different solutions or approaches. I cannot judge whether CORSIA is the right solution or not, but we also realise that sometimes it is better for all to agree on one solution, rather the few on many.

Murphy: CORSIA may be the only global measure. It’s a step forward, at least for those countries which to date have not taken action to address aviation’s climate impact. But much, much more will be needed if we are to move aviation towards zero emissions as the Paris Agreement requires. That ‘more’ can only come from national and regional level, as we know that ICAO, as an agency with 193 states, will always be limited in its level of ambition. So we need to look at what states and regions can do – encouraging new fuels, pricing aviation more effectively, promoting low-carbon alternatives where possible. The climate crisis is so urgent that we need a whole range of actors to step up to the plate, not just ICAO.