Speaking at IATA’s AGM in Vancouver this week, the association’s director general and chief executive, Giovanni Bisignani, said: ‘The environmental track record of the industry is good: over the last four decades we have reduced noise by 75%, eliminated soot and improved fuel efficiency by 70%.
'And the billions being invested in new aircraft will make our fleet 25% more fuel efficient by 2020. This will limit the growth of our carbon footprint from today’s 2% to 3% in 2050.
‘But a growing carbon footprint is no longer politically acceptable – for any industry. Climate change will limit our future unless we change our approach from technical to strategic. Air transport must aim to become an industry that does not pollute – zero emissions.’
Bisignani issued challenges in four areas to help achieve this goal: air traffic management; technology; a global approach; and green businesses.
He said governments and air navigation service providers must eliminate the 12% inefficiency in global air traffic management. ‘Cut air traffic inefficiency in half by 2012 and we immediately save 35m tonnes of CO2. Three mega-projects could deliver real results: a Single Sky for Europe, an efficient Pearl River Delta in China and a next generation air traffic system in the US,’ he claimed.
The aerospace industry, meanwhile, must build a zero emissions aircraft in the next 50 years. Bisignani challenged ‘the US, Europe, Canada, China, Brazil, Russia and Japan to coordinate basic research on a zero emissions aircraft and then compete to develop products based on this research’.
He added that clean fuel was also critical, pointing out that governments had cut alternative fuel funding, while oil companies were ‘busy counting the US$15bn in increased refinery margins that the airline industry is now paying’.
A first target should be to replace 10% of fuel with low-carbon alternatives in the next ten years, with a second to begin developing carbon-free fuel from renewable energy sources. ‘It’s time for governments and the oil industry to make some serious investments,’ Bisignani said.
Climate change is a global issue, requiring a global solution, he continued, with the challenge for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and its 190 member states to deliver a global emissions trading scheme that is fair, effective and available for all governments to use on a voluntary basis.
‘The September ICAO Assembly is an opportunity that cannot be missed,’ he urged. ‘The relevance of ICAO depends on its ability to deliver a global solution on this important issue.’
The final challenge is for airlines to implement green strategies across their businesses. To this end, IATA is developing ‘Project Green’ to help airlines implement global best practice environmental management systems. ‘This will place environment alongside safety and security as a core promise to our 2bn passengers,’ Bisignani said.
He concluded by claming that governments were being too easily sidetracked on the issue of air transport and the environment. ‘Politicians think green and see cash. In the name of the environment, UK Chancellor Gordon Brown doubled the Air Passenger Duty. The environment has not benefited, but airlines and their passengers are paying a billion pounds for his green credentials.
‘And Europe is rushing to include aviation in emissions trading at the same time as governments are looking at carbon offsets. The policies are schizophrenic. We have had enough PR. It’s time to delivery some real results.’
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